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THE 



ADVANCEMENT OF RELIGION 



THE 



CLAIM OF THE TIMES 



BY 

/ 

ANDREW REED, D. D. 



A RE COMMEND ATOUY INTRODUCTION 

BY 

GARDINER SPRING, D. D. 



THY KINGDOM COME 



NEW-YORK : 
M. W. DODD, 

BRICK CHURCH CHAPEL, OPPOSITE THE CITY HALL. 
1843. 






University Press, 

John F. Trow, Printer. 

33 An II -street, 

NEW-YORK. 



INTRODUCTION. 



At the request of the publisher, I have paid 
some attention to the work of Dr. R. with the 
view of expressing my humble judgment of its 
merits. The reverend author is favorably 
known to the churches of this country ; and this 
work, will detract nothing from his reputation. 
With portions of it, I have been exceedingly in- 
terested, as throwing together very important 
thoughts upon the most important topics of re- 
ligious instruction ; well arranged, and favora- 
bly expressed. The work obviously cost the 
author time, effort, and prayer ; and it is well 
worth th e labor and solicitude it cost. Who- 
ever reads it will be abundantly compensated, 
and if he reads it with the spirit with which it 
was written, cannot fail to become a more en- 
lightened and useful Christian. The object and 
aim of the writer is not a selfish one, but it is to 
do good. He takes a wide range ; and yet after 



4 INTRODUCTION. 

having read the work, the attentive reader will 
find that the substance of it is easily remember- 
ed. If our churches and our ministers would 
possess themselves of its principles and imbibe 
its spirit, they w^ould have less cause to lament 
the decay of vital godliness, either in their own 
hearts, their families, or their congregations. 

The publisher deserves commendation and 
encouragement for the attractive form in which 
he presents this volume to the public ; and I 
take great pleasure in recommending it to all 
who purchase books for the sake of reading 
them. 

GARDINER SPRING. 
New-York, March, 1843. 



PREFACE. 



The Lectures composing this work were delivered at the 
close of the year 1838, and previous to that state of religion 
already reported to the public. A formal but earnest request 
was made at the time by the deacons of the church, and by those 
students of various colleges in fellowship wiih the church, for 
their publication. 

Perhaps the best apology, under the delay, is, that their soli- 
citations have neither been forgotten nor dishonored ; that, now, 
heallh has been put in peril for their preparation ; and that it is 
possible, amidst conflicting motive, the balancing consideration 
and encouragement may have been found in their kind and cor- 
dial request. 

Now that it is done, it is far from bringing satisfaction to the 
writer. While constrained to wait, he has been deeply convinc- 
ed that, if it should be prepared with common-place feeling, it 
would be altogether nugatory. That the right state of mind and 
heart has been sought, with trembling and tears, he can truly 
assert. Would that he could assuredly say he had found it ! 

If any shall propose to give the book a serious perusal, he 
would request special attention for the second Lecture, and on 
a twofold account. First, that it is hkely to be overlooked, as 
compared with others; and, secondly, that if it is disregarded, 
no real benefit is likely to arise from the other portions of the 
work. It is true, that its prevailing sentiments may be regarded 
as known and familiar ; but the fact is, that by this very familia- 
rity many of the vital truths of religion may pass through our 
mind, as the sterling currency of the realm does through our 
hand, without our marking the image and superscription. We 
require to dwell on them long, and to recur to them often and 
earnestly. Of the many things wanting, at this time, to the for- 
cible expression of Christian hfe, no one thing is required so 
much as that we should be converted to our own opinions. 

It will be seen that a considerable portion of this book is 
suggestive. He hopes that it will not, on that account, be con- 
demned as visionary and impracticable. He thinks he may safely 
say, that all the suggestions are the fruit of actual experiment, 
or of careful observation and comparison. Of those which, from 
their nature, admit of being tried in a long course of ministerial 
life, he can certainly say. They have beeti proved. 

Of course it is not to be thought, that suggestions, however 
good in themselves, and in particular cases, must be alike appli- 
cable in all circumstances. On this account, such suggestions 



6 ^PREFACE. 

as are most practical in their aspect are chiefly resolved into 
great principles. Detail must always be regulated by discre- 
tion, while principle is invariable and eternal. 

He also trusts, that because suggestive, no one will therefore 
conclude the work to be accusatory. He rejoices in all the good 
that has been done, and in the men who have done it. Yet 
must we be careful to admit, that if still we are to go forward, 
it must be by improvement. He has therefore claimed to exer- 
cise freedom of remark; but he has labored to speak the truth 
in love. Where objection is necessarily taken, it is not so dis- 
tinctive as to find an apphcation to any one person, or society of 
persons, exclusively ; and it is not taken at all, except where it 
may contribute to more improved spiritual action in ourselves, 
and in our institutions. 

Although these Lectures preceded the most important and 
interesting period in the pastoral labors of the Author, and may 
have been useful in preparing for it, they are not to be con- 
founded with those exercises which were directly employed, to 
secure a revived state of religion. They were, on the whole, 
different in their subject, their bearing, and their character. A 
hope is still cherished, that a favorable opportunity may arise to 
supply at least a specimen of such Addresses and Sermons, as 
were found most efficacious in working directly to the proposed 
end. 

If what is now committed to the press shall, in any measure, 
contribute to clear and fix attention on the one final object, the 
advancement of vital religion amongst men, it will not have been 
in vain. The church still wants that singleness of eye and of 
purpose, which shall give firmness and force to character. She 
must pass from the secondarij, and seize on the primary — from 
the little to apprehend the great. Every one venturing to name 
the name of Christ, must ask for union ; give himself to devoted 
labor ; and consecrate his service by breathing prayer to his 
Saviour. 

All things now demand this of the church. It is time that 
she laid aside her puerilities, and put forth the manliness of 
Christian life. It is time that she felt the force of that love from 
the skies, which unites her to every Christian, and which sepa- 
rates her from all besides. It is time that she distinctly heard, 
and instantly obeyed the voice of Providence— the will of her 
Lord. It is time that the wailings of a lost world should pierce 
her heart, and constrain her to forget her differences, spring 
from her slothfulness, and devote herself for its salvation. It is 
time — surely it is time — that the one church became one in 
action and in love ; and that the one cry of the united church 
should go up to heaven, Thy Kingdom come ! 

Hackney, January 2ndj 1843. 



CONTENTS 



LECTURE I. 

Page 
THE ADVANCEMENT OF RELIGION DESIRABLE .... 9 



LECTURE IL 

ITS ADVANCEMENT IN THE PERSON 37 

LECTURE in. 

ITS ADVANCEMENT BY PERSONAL EFFORT ..... 63 

LECTURE IV. 

ITS ADVANCEMENT IN THE FAMILY 93 

LECTURE V. 

ITS ADVANCEMENT BY THE MINISTRY 121 

LECTURE VI. 

ITS ADVANCEMENT IN THE CHURCH 159 



8 CONTENTS. 

LECTURE VII. 

ITS ADVANCEMENT BY THE CHURCH 183 

LECTURE Via. 

ITS ADVANCEMENT IN THE NATION 219 

LECTURE IX. 

ITS ADVANCEMENT IN THE WORLD 247 

LECTURE X. 

CERTAINTY AND GLORY OF THE CONSUMMATION . . . 287 



LECTURE I. 



THE ADVANCEMENT OF RELIGION 



DESIRABLE. 



LECTURE I. 

ITS ADVANCEMENT DESIRABLE. 
" Thy kingdom comeJ* 

This, my brethren, is a familiar and comprehensive 
prayer. It comes directly from the hallowed lips of our 
Saviour, and it is like himself. It is to remain with the 
church, and to be breathed forth in strong and expanding 
desire, till desire shall be absorbed in its accomplishment. 

The prayer which we are thus taught to make our ow^n, 
fixes our attention on religion ; on the advancement of re- 
ligion in the world ; and especially on its advancement as 
inexpressibly desirable. This, therefore, wall indicate the 
course of the present exercise. If it may be truly said, 
that the subject is important at any time, and in any state 
of the church, it may be affirmed,. without exaggeration, 
that it derives to itself unusual importance from the times 
in which we live, and the circumstances by which we are 
surrounded. Let us mingle with our meditations 'prayer, 
and with our prayers meditation, that we may lose nothing 
of the grandeur of the theme in its familiarity ; that our 
minds may be filled with the subject — yea, filled with all 
the fulness of God ! 

Religion, of which we have to treat, is susceptible, as 
a term, of different senses ; and these are mostly determin- 
ed by the connection in which it is found. Sometimes it is 
used to designate a system of truth ; and then it has God 
for its author, and the gospel for its substance. At other 
times, it is employed to denote the exercise of devout affec- 



12 ITS ADVANCEMENT 

tions ; and then it is a principle of grace in the heart, as- 
cending in worship to God. Again, it is often used to 
mark relative conduct; and then it particularly refers us 
to Christian morals. While capable of being ^limited [to 
these partial senses, it properly comprehends them all. In 
its unrestricted and general sense, therefore, it may be de- 
fined, as the just and efficacious operation of Divine truth 
on the mind and conduct of men. 

Religion, then, as we have to regard it, is not various, 
but one. It is not a form, or a ritual, or a creed, or a cat- 
echism ; but the life of truth and of God in the soul of 
man. It divides nothing with false religions ; and it knows 
nothing of the divisions which men have sought to fasten 
on the true. It know^s nothing of Arminius, or of Calvin, 
or of Luther. It is not of Paul, or of . Apollos, or of Peter. 
It is not from Jerusalem, or Rome, or Oxford. It is from 
heaven ; it is one. In the Bible it is one ; in Christ it is 
one ; in the Christian it is one, undivided and indivisible. 
Its simplicity is its sublimity ; and both are the clear and 
indubitable evidence of its divinity. 

It may be equally necessary, before "we pass to the 
principal subject of discourse, to have a common under- 
standing of what is comprehended in the advancement of 
religion. We propose to use the term to indicate the fol- 
lowing particulars : — 

1. The revival of true religion in the spirits of the 
sanctified ; so that where there is spiritual life, it shall ex- 
ist in greater vigor. 

2. The extension of the means of religion to places and 
persons which do not enjoy them ; and, 

3. The successful use of these means in the conversion 
of the ungodly, and in the edification of such as have be- 
lieved the testimony of the gospel. 



DESIRABLE. 13 

It may be also needful to remark' on the degree and 
rate of the advancement which we are contemplating. 
We do not understand by it, such a progress as allows of 
one and another, month after month, to subscribe with his 
hand to the Lord by public profession ; nor such progress 
as will supply the wastes of death and defection ; nor even 
such progress as will leave a clear balance in favor of the 
church. We refer to a movement more decided, more 
rapid, more triumphant, in which not one but many shall 
profess Christ, and at shorter intervals ; in which not many, 
but thousands and myriads, shall be gathered to the arms 
of the rejoicing church. We refer to an advancement in 
which continually growing congregations shall be continu- 
ally absorbed by the church ; and in which the progress of 
the one church shall be so evident, that the unobservant 
world shall be made to see it, and tremble, and adore ! 

Such an advancement of true religion is demanded by 
the exigency of the times in which we live ; it is to be ex- 
pected from the dispensation which we enjoy ; and it is as- 
sured to us by the bright page of fprophecy, made glorious 
by its very announcement ! 

Having offered these introductory explanations on the 
terms, it remains that we should commend the advance- 
ment of religion to you as desirable. But why, it may be 
said, enlarge on so very obvious a proposition? Is- it not 
admitted ? Do we not pray for it ? Do we not labor for 
it 1 Is not the church looking for it with eager and daily 
expectation ? 

It is cheerfully allowed that much of hope and of effort 
has been directed to this end. Still, in our judgment, we 
are not prepared for the event to which we are looking. 
Success, abstractedly considered, is without doubt desira- 
ble to us. But if the advancement of religion is to begin 



14 ITS ADVANCEMENT 

with ourselves in penitence, humiliation, sacrifice, and self- 
denial, then we are not prepared for it. If it shall require 
of us the abandonment of cherished prejudices, and the sa- 
crifice of distinguishing peculiarities of our party, then we 
are not prepared for it. If it shall have for its forerunners 
agitation and conflict, darkness and tempest, the overthrow 
of things as they are, to miike way for better and grander 
formations, then we are not prepared for it. 

On the contrary, if this day of the Lord should "come 
with less of present evil, and with more of present and 
sensible blessedness than we are authorized to expect, who 
is prepared for it ? If suddenly the power of truth should 
establish itself in the consciences of myriads ; if the majori- 
ty, after being so long found with the adversary, should 
pass over to the profession of the Saviour ; if the church 
were at once to rise to a station of eminence and honor, and 
become the admiration and wonder of men, who of all her 
sons is prepared for it ? Where is the minister that would 
not suffer by elation and vanity 1 Where the church that 
would not abuse such extraordinary prosperity by extrava- 
gant assumption and selfish complacency ? 

That the advancement of religion does not sufficiently 
possess our desires, or that our desires are not wisely regu- 
lated by it, has been made painfully evident by recent ex- 
perience. The church more than once has been partially 
awakened to the subject ; solemn meetings have been con- 
vened ; our sanctuaries have been thronged,; and there has 
been much of appropriate prayer and expostulation. What 
is the fruit 1 Have they, as a whole, satisfied any that they 
were begun and sustained in a right spirit 7 Is it too much 
to say, that they were the fruit of impulse rather than of 
principle ? Had the desire displayed been genuine, instead 
of being exhausted by temporary expression, would it not 



DESIRABLE. 15 

have become more pure and more intense ? Instead of 
taking up such exercise, from an aspiration to do some 
" great thing," should we not have sought to become as 
nothing in the Divine presence 1 Must there not have been 
such bitter sorrow for past deficiency, and such fixed resolve 
for future conduct, as could not be forgotten, and as must 
have given a new character to the temper and activities of 
the church ? Had the effect in any adequate sense been 
good, could the church be now as we really find her ; flat- 
tering herself on her sound and improved condition ; cher- 
ishing unbelief in all special effort, from the recollection of 
her own palpable failure; and generally diverted to secon- 
dary interests from those which are primary and paramount 
in the kingdom of God ? 

There is reason, then, my brethren, ample reason for 
directing your mind to the desirableness of this object ; and 
even if our desires were far more intelligent and intense 
than they are, there would be sufficient reason for seeking 
their increase where, though they were infinite, they could 
not be in excess. Let us, therefore, hope for your deep and 
prayerful consideration of the following particulars : — 



I. 



In the first instance, then, let me ask you to look on the 
present state of the world. 

By the world we understand, without exception, its 
rational inhabitants. Religion is to operate on man ; and 
we cannot be suitably affected with its desirableness without 
a careful attention to the state of mankind. 

Take the better and nearer view of the subject first. 
Look on the church. To assist your conceptions, limit your 



16 ITS ADVANCEMENT 

attention to that portion of it with which your are connect- 
ed, and of which, therefore, you have the better acquaint- 
ance. You see instantly much to inspire you with admira- 
tion and gratitude. • But does it satisfy you ? Where you 
discover, certainly, the presence of religion, does it display 
itself in power and glory ? Is belief the full assurance of 
faith 1 is expectation the full assurance of hope 1 is know- 
ledge the full assurance of understanding ? Is Christian 
life so vigorous. Christian character so articulate, and 
Christian devotedness so complete, as to leave you nothing 
to desire? Do the Christians you esteem, and with whom 
you communicate, in comparison with primitive examples, 
suffer nothing ? Is there any thing in the church so holy, 
so great, so elevated as to clothe it in your mind with apos- 
tolic character 1 

Then, of that very assembly, with whom you are ac- 
customed to offer your acts of public worship, how many 
cieate fear rather than hope ! How many pause in their 
career; how many draw back from their solemn vows unto 
perdition ; how many dishonor a holy profession by an un- 
holy and worldly conversation ; how many remain dead in 
trespasses and sins, insensible alike to the mercy which 
woos them from heaven, the deep condemnation which 
awaits them in hell ! Oh, what sources have we of holy 
and ineffable grief within the very sanctuary where it is our 
privilege to worship ! 

Now, rising from this limited sphere of vision, let your 
eye comprehend the whole Protestant church. What do 
you see 1 Are there any signs of unity, strength and spir- 
itual life 1 Are not the prevailing features those of deplora- 
ble weakness and carnality 7 Torn by schism ; wasted by 
heresy ; relying on rituals, to the neglect of living piety ; 
and courting alliance and support from the world she was 



DESIRABLE. 17 

born to subdue ; she has a name to live, but is dead ! In- 
stead of being, in the hand of the Most High, a prepared 
instrument for the regeneration of the world, she is to this 
hour a fearful and a sinful impediment. 

Now look abroad on the world, and what remains ? 
The several forms of corrupt and false religion. What is 
Popery but baptized Paganism 1 What is Mohamedism but 
an arrant imposture, addressed to the vices of our fallen 
nature ? What is Paganism but the religion of Demons, 
and not of God ? a religion which has for the very objects 
of its worship personifications of all the vices which tor- 
ment and destroy mankind. 

Mark, then, my brethren, the present state of the world. 
Those who bear the Christian name under any form may 
be computed at two hundred millions. Of these, about 
eighty millions may be considered Protestant ; and of the 
■whole Protestant community, it would be making a liberal 
allowance to say that there are twenty millions living truly 
under the influence of the religion they profess. But twenty 
millions is so small an amount, as compared with the world's 
population, that it scarcely affects the aggregate sum ; and 
it may still be said, that there are eight hundred millions of 
beings on our earth who are neglecting the great end of 
life, and the great and adorable Being who is the single 
fountain of life and blessedness. 

Thus, then, we have, and in the nineteenth century of 
the Christian era, a world without God, without Christ, and 
without hope. A world wholly given over jto idolatry — 
dishonoring and disowning the God that made them. A 
world lying in wickedness, and perishing in sin. A world 
enveloped in the shadow of death, and sinking down into 
the realities of second death and endless despair. 

And all this is happening on this earth w^e inhabit j and 
2* 



18 ITS ADVANCEMENT 

in the family of man, of which we are part ; in our streets, 
and at our very doors, it is happening. And it is happen- 
ing always — happening now ! While we are meditating 
on their course, many have reached its close, and are preci- 
pitated from a life of sin to a state of punishment, and shriek 
to find themselves lost for ever ! 

My brethren, are we men, and shall the state of our fel- 
low men be foreign to us ? Have we no pity for their 
sorrows — no arm for their redemption ? Feeling at once 
the vanity of all human aid, have we no desires for the 
accession of that kingdom which has the promise of the 
life that is, and of that which is to come ? 



II. 



In the second place observe, that the religion of Christ 
is admirably adapted to the condition of the world. 

That our apprehension may be the more distinct, let us 
limit ourselves to a single aspect of the subject. Religion, 
as a principle, is love, essential love. 

It is love from God to man. The love of God not only 
appears, it reigns and triumphs, in the religion of Christ. 
In the exercise of this love to men, there were difficulties 
to be overcome which were insuperable to all but Omnipo- 
tence ; but love is stronger than death, and many waters 
could not quench or enfeeble it. It has converted every 
obstacle into an advantage to itself; and it is revealed in 
all its splendor and power by the gospel. God so loved 
the world, that he gave his only-begotten Son. God was 
in Christ reconciling a rebellious and recovering a lost 
world to himself, not imputing their trespasses to them. 
Herein was love — divine and infinite. 



DESIRABLE. 19 

Religion is love from man to God. His first love to 
man generates responding love to him. Love casts out fear 
and enmity. The sinner appreciates the method by which 
God is reconciled to him, and is himself reconciled to God. 
The fountain of the affections is purified, and the soul rests 
on God in the confidence of love. Love brings complacency ; 
complacency brings fellowship ; fellowship brings assurance. 
Man, restored from sense and sin, rises above himself, above 
the creature, above earth and heaven, and says, " Whom 
have I in heaven but Thee ? and there is none on earth that 
I desire in comparison with Thee." 

Religion is love from man to man. At peace with 
himself, at peace with God, he is, by consequence, at peace 
with his fellow-man. His great fault, as a sinner, is selfish- 
ness ; he finds in himself the centre and reason of action. 
Restored from this vile idolatry to the love of God, religion, 
by adjusting his affections to their supreme source, regulates 
them in all their social exercises. He is commanded, and he 
is disposed, to love his brother as himself The love of 
God is the true and perrennial spring of all true philan- 
thropy. 

Now is not this the very remedy which is needed for 
the manifold ills beneath which the world is groaning 1 
Various and heavy as they are, is there any evil which this 
divine charity would not subdue 1 Is there any good, 
which we can conceive as desirable, which it would not 
secure 1 What lessons of humility, gentleness, kindness, 
and beneficence would not this charity teach ? By destroy- 
ing selfishness, would it not destroy crime, and misery the 
effect of crime ? Would it not be the fulfilment of all 
righteousness and of all blessedness ? Can you conceive 
of this charity being perfectly exemplified, without instant- 
ly conceiving of Paradise restored, and this world of guilt 



20 ITS ADVANCEMENT , 

and tears converted into a heaven of purity, bliss, and 

joy ! 

My brethren, this remedy is with you. You are par- 
tially the witnesses of its efficacy. It is as necessary for 
each, for all of mankind, as for you. Shall it not be your 
one fervent desire that it may be applied to you, to them, 
in all its virtue, and developed in all its blessedness ? 

III. 

In the third place, I would invite you to remark, that 
not only is the religion of Christ adapted to the state of the 
world, but that it alone, and exclusively, is adapted to their 
condition. 

This is certainly an important declaration. Providence 
seems to have designed that its truth should be determined 
by time and experience. At a much earlier period, there- 
fore, such an assertion might have been premature. It 
cannot be so now. The experiment has been fully made ; 
the results have been ascertained and recorded. 

For nearly six thousand years, in the neglect of the 
true rehgion, men have indulged their own inventions to 
see if they could find out God and his worship. The re- 
sult has been that they have lost the knowledge which tra- 
dition brought them, and have sunk into whatever is most 
false in faith and corrupt in devotion. All that national 
policy, and authority, and endowment could do to uphold 
the acceptable falsehood has been done ; but it has carried 
within itself the seeds of its ov^rn destruction. System after 
system, great and flourishing in its time, has lived only to 
die. Where now are the gods of Egypt, of Assyria, of 
Persia, of Greece, of Rome ? They have perished like 
men. 



DESIRABLE. 21 

Of the systems which remain amongst living things, the 
doom is equally certain. The longer they continue, the 
severer is the test to which they are submitted. Even now 
they are not what they were. They have shrunk away 
from their former dimensions ; they are shorn of their pris- 
tine glory ; their devotees have lost their enthusiasm ; 
and on the forehead of every mosque and temple there is- 
written by an invisible hand the fearful words which first 
revealed the doom of Babylon, " Thou art weighed in 
the balances, and art found wanting ;" wanting, as tested 
by the lights of eternal truth — wanting, as tested by the ne- 
cessities of fallen man — wanting, as tried on the assumption 
of a divine and heavenly origin ! 

Of the inventions of men, then, nothing is left to us. 
And what is to come 1 Nothing. It is too late now to in- 
vent a new religion. The very term would suggest ridi- 
cule to the mind, which would be fatal to its pretensions. 
There is no opportunity now for a subtle invention' to fold 
the date of its birth in mystery, to insinuate itself gradually 
into the reverence and prejudices of a people, and to hide 
its deformities in the meretricious garments of superstition. 
It would be forced into the light, and in the light it would 
expire. 

True it is that, in our own times, men, still unwil- 
ling to accept a religion whick proposes to make them hap- 
py only by making them holy, have sought to satisfy the 
cravings of the mind by various fabrications ; but their 
very attempts confirm the truth we assert. Within our 
time, a nation great, civilized, and refined, wearied of re- 
ligion in its corrupt forms, sought to supersede the claims 
of superstition by those of philosophy. And with what 
success ? Already it is spoken of as a thing that was, and 
is not ; but the events it evolved are written in blood and 



2 ITS ADVANCEMENT. 

tears, and with the hands of fiends, on the page of history, 
never to be effaced. 

More recently, both here and there, by inferior persons 
and on an inferior scale, schemes have been devised and 
are devising, which are to bring to society a true worship 
and true felicity. And much has been said of the dignity 
•and perfectibility of human nature -, and much of existing 
institutions as the fatal barrier to our progress. And mar- 
riage has been denounced as a prejudice ; property as a 
usurpation ; and the Bible as an obsolete book ; and men 
are promised to be introduced to a " new moral world," in 
which they are to find their character in circumstances, 
their honor in the worship of the God of nature, and their 
harmony in having all things common amongst themselves. 
A new moral world ! and on such premises ! and with the 
vaunt of man's perfectibility ! Vain and visionary fancies ! 
Abortions of a sickly imagination and a corrupt heart ! 
Too feeble to do harm or to preserve life. While we speak 
of them they expire. Though they flatter human passions, 
they cannot sustain human hope. Like the insignificant 
wave on the great waters, they appear and dazzle for an 
instant, and then disappear for ever, leaving all beneath as 
cold and as dark as it was before ! 

Yes, my brethren, it is too late now to invent a new re- 
ligion. Men are left without an option. They are shut 
up to the gospel of Christ. If it fail, there is nothing left 
— the world of mankind must live without hope and lie 
down in despair. 

But religion — the religion of Christ — will not fail. It 
has been tested more than all ; and it has survived every 
trial to which it could be submitted. It has passed through 
the waters, and they have not overflowed it, and through the 
fires, and they have not kindled on it. It has shown itself 



DESIRABLE. 23 

to be divine, ethereal, from heaven. It is the hope of the 
world and the life of men. It is prepared to satisfy the 
understanding- as the supreme truth, the will as the supreme 
good, the affections as the supreme beauty, and the con- 
science as the supreme authority. And when men, wearied 
of their own devices and oppressed with guilt and fear, 
shall make it their own, they shall call it blessed. 

My brethren, you are in possession of this remedy for 
the vices and miseries of mankind ; it is not only a remedy, 
it is the only remedy ; men are sickening under the bitter 
disappointment of their own vanities, and dying out of life 
without help or hope; should it not be your first desire to 
convey to them those words of life and immortality which 
are all your salvation and all your desire ! 



IV. 



The means now employed to advance religion in the 
world should make it an object of increased desire. 

This is called, perhaps with too much self-complacency, 
a day of exertion. It is not so, as compared with what it 
should be; but it certainly is so, as compared with time past. 
This is equally true, whether we look at home or abroad. 

At home, the means for the extension of true religion 
are in excess of all former periods. The whole evangelic 
church is awaking from her slumbers, and clothing her- 
self with strength. The ministry is increasing in num- 
bers, in intelligence, in piety, and in power; and is 
called to a measure of service such as the previous genera- 
tions did not know. No mean number of private Christians 
are making their worldly vocation subordinate to their re- 
ligious profession, and are consecrating themselves and 



24 ITS ADVANCEMENT 

their property chiefly to the advancement of the gospeh 
Our particular congregations are becoming centres of" light 
and activity to their respective neighborhoods ; where they 
are, there are the library, the Bible-class, the Sabbath- 
school, the daily school, the Christian Instruction Society, 
the Benevolent Society, and those combinations of Chris- 
tian charity which are meant to reach the ends of the earth. 
The Bible, the tract, the evangelist, and the schoolmaster 
are abroad in the land ; and the resources of literature, of 
opulence, of station, and of voluntary association, are put 
in requisition for the coming kingdom of God. 

What is said of the church at home may b6 asserted, 
with equal emphasis, of the church in America ; and even 
the Protestant church of continental Europe, after the tor- 
por of ages, is raising her eyelids on the scene, and stretch- 
ing her limbs, as if about to shake herself from the dust, 
and to claim her assigned station in the battle of the Lord 
against the mighty. 

But the most remarkable feature of the times is the in- 
strumentality provided by the church for the conversion of 
the world. Large as the field of foreign service is, the 
means are assuming a character of adequacy to the pro- 
posed end. The simple facts wdll illustrate this most im- 
pressively. 

The general organization for the advancement of re- 
ligion in foreign parts is found in our Bible, Tract, and 
Missionary Societies. The Holy Scriptures have been, in 
whole or in part, translated into all the primary languages 
of the world, and into very many of the dialects. Tracts 
and religious treatises have been translated into more than 
one hundred languages, and distributed by millions. There 
are forty printing-offices, and not less than three hundred 
presses at work in this service. There are not less than 



DESIRABLE. 25 

six hundred stations spread over the face of the earth, with 
their chapels, schools, residences, and machinery. There 
are upwards of one thousand ordained missionaries, and 
about one thousand of teachers, assistants, and printers ; 
and there are several hundred native preachers as the fruit 
of past labor. To complete this statement, it should be 
understood that not less than a million annually is now 
raised for this great object ! 

My brethren, such a movement as this has not been 
known in the church since the glorification of the risen 
Saviour. It is the great proof of the vitality and vigor of 
Protestant and evangelical truth. It has been sustained 
now for nearly half a century with growing power, and is 
accumulating its force from year to year and from day to 
day. It has effectually called up the attention of the world ; 
and men are marking its onward course with fear or hope, 
as they affect or oppose the interests of true religion. You 
are not merely spectators of the event, but participants. Is 
not its successful issue an object of infinite moment to you 1 
All this swelhng expectation in the heart of the church, 
shall it be crushed by bitter disappointment ? All this de- 
voted labor at home and abroad to convey to a perishing 
world the bread of life and the water of life, shall it be- 
come, through failure, a mockery and a by-word amongst 
all people ? The minister, — shall he labor and toil in vain ? 
The missionary, — shall he exhaust himself, and then lie down 
in the wilderness and die in vain ? The noblest efforts ever 
put forth by Christian charity for the world's redemption, 
shall they be in vain 1 The noblest hope that ever anima- 
ted the breast of men, shall it expire as a spark which the 
fire kindleth 1 Oh, what life has already been sacrificed — 
what treasure has already been expended — what prayer has 
already been made — what examples of sanctified heroism 



/ i 



26 ITS ADVANCEMENT 

have already been presented, in this service of our faith ! 
And is it nothing to us ? With what accumulated desire 
should we thirst and pray that the kingdom of heaven may 
come ! 



V. 



Apart from the means employed by the church, let me 
direct your attention to the facilities supplied by Providence 
at this period for the advancement of religion. 

The circumstance first demanding notice, from its great 
importance, is the advancing state of religious and civil 
liberty. Liberty is the child of religion. Its principles 
were first asserted by Christ and his disciples, and sancti- 
fied by their blood. They were, however, ]*esisted and 
held in bondage for ages, by the lust of power natural to 
men. At the Reformation they burst from long confine- 
ment, and appeared before an astonished world in all their 
majesty. Still proscribed and persecuted, they fled to the 
wilderness for refuge; and the wilderness was glad for 
them, and became as a field which the Lord had blessed. 
They are now better understood and appreciated. The 
confusion and mixture in government of religious with 
civil claims is becoming the practical difficulty of all na- 
tions. The advocates of despotic principle in ecclesiastical 
and civil polity are becoming weaker, and tremble for their 
fate ; and the friends of true liberty are increasing in num- 
ber, in confidence, and in power. A broad and visible line 
of demarcation is being drawn between the prerogatives 
which belong to God and conscience, and those which 
belong to Csesar ; and speedily men will not suflfer any 
earthly power to dictate to them any article of faith or any 
mode of worship. 



DESIRABLE. 27 

The effect of this is, that we have an unexampled mea- 
sure of liberty, both of speech and of action. Every thing 
is forced into discussion, and discussion is the arena in which 
error dies and truth is renovated. The power of public 
opinion is about to supersede all other power ; and it shall 
declare itself in favor of liberty and conscience, and shall 
sweep from the earth the last obstructions which have pre- 
vented the free utterance of the gospel to all nations. 

The advanced state of education is another facility for 
the advent of the kingdom of God. It is light ; and edu- 
cation is light ; and light is power. The common mind is 
being enlightened, and popular ignorance is fast disappear- 
ing. Nothing engages more of public attention. All the 
nations of Europe are looking to it. America has an edu- 
cated people. Even barbarous governments are asking 
for letters and the schoolmaster. Especially it should be 
understood, that education prevails extensively over China; 
its inhabitants are a reading people ; and they comprise 
nearly the half of mankind. The result is, that not the 
few, but, for the first time in the annals of the world, the 
million are readers. The methods of teaching have re- 
ceived a popular, economical, and expansive character. 
The infant and the adult are alike taught ; the school and 
the college are appearing in the East and the West ; in 
the village and the wilderness; from Iceland to Japan — 
from the river to the ends of the earth ! 

Hitherto the great obstruction to the utterance of the 
gospel has been found in the deep and deplorable ignorance 
of the people. The missionary especially has been called 
to sink his character in that of the schoolmaster ; and life 
has been worn away in reducing language to grammar 
and writing, and initiating men to the first ^^elements of 
knowledge. But now that language is fixed, that the 



28 ITS ADVANCEMENT 

sacred Scriptures are translated, that the rising generation 
read, and that the whole world thirsts for knowledge, may 
it not be said that his night of toil is past, and that the 
dawning of a glorious harvest-day is come ? 

Again, peace is not only an eminent blessing in itself, 
it is also a facility in the spread of true religion. For a 
quarter of a century, when the church was awaking to a 
sense of her duty to the world, her efforts were checked at 
home by the absorbing interest of war ; and they were in- 
terrupted or prevented abroad by the hatred and conflict of 
contending nations. But for nearly as long a period peace 
has dwelt on earth. Men have had leisure to consider their 
own interests and pursue their own improvement: the 
various nations have dwelt together as a common brother- 
hood ; points of difference have been settled by friendly 
arbitration ; and nothing has prevented one portion of the 
human family communicating with every other portion. 
Is not this a great facility ? Must we not think that it is 
granted by a gracious Providence for a special purpose ? 
The temple of Janus was shut, that expectation might be 
free, and the way prepared for the advent of the Prince of 
Peace in flesh ; and now that it is again shut, may it not be 
to prepare the world for his second coming in spiritual 
glory ? The whirlwind of passion is past and gone, and 
God was not there ; the storm and thunder of war have 
raged through every land, and spent themselves in desola- 
tion, and God was not there; and now there is heard a 
small still voice, like the rustling breeze of the coming day, 
whispering peace to the perturbations of earth— Oh, is it 
not the voice of God ? 

Finally, commerce must be named as a facility for the 
accomplishment of our object. Commerce, as it is the 
acknowledged means of civilization, so it is the great means 



DESIRABLE. 29 

of evangelization. It never was so extensive or so rapid 
as it is now. The surprising improvements in the method 
of communication have virtually reduced the distance be- 
tween one place and another by one half. Commerce, too, 
with all its improved facilities, is chiefly committed to the 
two nations most devoted to the propagation of religious 
truth and religious freedom over the world — England and 
America. Their sails whiten every sea and float on every 
breeze ; their people are at home on all waters and in all 
countries ; and all nations look up to them, and wonder at 
their superiority. Can this be by chance? Does it not 
supply remarkable facilities for the exhibition of the gos- 
pel ? And when the nations learn that all their superiority 
springs from their religion, will they not refer their own 
inferiority to the want of it ? And will not this be an in- 
ducement to abandon their vanities for the true religion and 
the true God ? 

My brethren, we speak of facilities — are they not all with 
us ? The world is open before us. Art and science, liberty 
and knowledge, peace and commerce, occasion and Provi- 
dence, are all with us, and cheer us on our way. Seeing 
we are encompassed with such a cloud of witnesses and 
helpers, shall we pause in our course or relax our desires ? 
"Was there ever such a period for action, or such encour- 
agement supplied to the activity and sacrifices demanded ? 
A statesman of our own time, at a great crisis of the world's 
affairs, exclaimed, " I would give a whole life to be prime 
minister for one fortnight !" Ours is a crisis as real and 
more important. Oh, what would Wycliffe and Luther, 
Whitefield and Wesley have given to have lived in such a 
time, and labored with such advantages ! And shall we 
be unworthy of them 1 Remember, that it is the order of 
Providence to supply the church with seasons of grace and 



30 ITS ADVANCEMENT 

usefulness, and to withdraw them in anger if they are ne- 
glected. Italy, the seat of papal power, was open to us 
for twenty years; no school was erected, no missionary 
was sent, no Bible was distributed, and the door was shut, 
and in judgment is still shut. None can doubt that peace 
and power, science and freedom, are given to us as means 
of conveying religion to the world's extremities ; and none 
must doubt, that they will be speedily withdrawn if we are 
unfaithful to our sacred trust. 

The premises before us lead to a still higher conclusion. 
It is not only desirable that religion should advance ; it is 
essential that it move at an accelerated face. Every inter- 
est of mankind is thus progressing. To stand still, yea, to 
move at our accustomed rate, is to be left behind. Alrea- 
dy, notwithstanding the means now employed, this is the 
predicament of religion. She has allowed herself to be 
outrun by inferior, and even by contrary interests. Infideli- 
ty has entered where she has not ; and vice has found re- 
treats where religion has not dared to follow. Art has 
penetrated where religion is not ; science has distributed 
her gifts where religion is not ; and commerce has convey- 
ed the merchant where the missionary is not. Our name 
is known where the name of Christ is unknown ; we are 
known as Britons where we are not known as Christians ; 
and many a distant strand has been stained by our crimes, 
that has never responded to our prayers! Yea, British 
power is felt, and the British sceptre wielded, where the 
kingdom of heaven and of God has not been proclaimed ! 

My brethren, religion has not only time to improve, but 
time to redeem. Of all things that move, religion has been 
the slowest ; and if she is to do any thing for the world's sal- 
vation, her course must be accelerated tenfold. The angel 
of the Apocalypse is now planting his foot on the sea and 



DESIRABLE. 31 

the dry land, as commanding both, and swearing that de- 
lay shall be no longer ; and shall not the church adopt and 
confirm the sacred oath ? The wide world is beseeching 
her help ; and shall she not at last — at last — make haste 
to grant it ? Oh, how long shall every concern of this 
world find more of energy, and property, and zeal devoted 
to it than religion ! Talk of martyrs for religion ! my breth- 
ren,' the poorest interest of this poor perishable life has more 
martyrs to record than religion could ever canonize ! 



VI. 



Finally, let us glance at the results of the advancement 
of religion amongst men, as rendering it desirable. This 
is itself a large subject ; and the utmost we here propose is 
to supply food to your own meditations. 

Look, then, at the benefit which might come to your^ 
self. The first great movement of religion might include 
your salvation from a state of sin^ or your elevation to a state 
of grace which you have not known. Such, perhaps, is your 
pride, prejudice, and worldliness, that you have hitherto re- 
sisted all means for your conversion to God ; but this greater 
efflux of his power should bear down all resistance, and 
make you submissive, penitent, and grateful as a little child. 
Or, perhaps, being converted, you are low and feeble in the 
divine life ; this movement should raise you to a state un- 
speakably less worldly and more happy. Do you not often 
conceive of a state of light, and holiness, and peace above 
you ? Do you not often feel as though you were on its very 
margin, and that another decisive step would place you there? 
Do you not often desire and pant to enter, and cannot 1 A de- 
cided advance in religion would raise you to that serene, 



32 ITS ADVANCEMENT 

holy, and happy state for which your nobler nature is 
yearning ! 

The influence which blessed you might also compre- 
hend your dearest connexions. Your father, your mother, 
your husband, your wife, your sister, your brother, your 
daughter, your son — what names are these! — might be vis- 
ited by the heavenly mercy. That particular individual in 
your connexions, so near to your heart, so bitter to your 
memory ; for whom you have offered so many prayers, 
shed so many tears ; and whose state makes your happy 
lot so unhappy ; might be subdued to God, and become the 
crown of your joy; and might live to learn, in the bosom 
of a holy family, how congenial are the pleasures of do- 
mestic life even with Paradise itself. 

Then, how happy would be the effect on the church 
universal ! You now mourn and perhaps weep over the 
evils of its present state ; its formality, its divisions, its car- 
nality. Sometimes you seek relief from the painful reality, 
by reverting to what the church should be, or by anticipat- 
ing what the church shall become, in the brightest period 
of her history. Then, with what a different aspect she ap- 
pears before you ! Her worldly alliances broken off; her 
meretricious ornaments cast away ; the truth, in its integri- 
ty and simplicity, enthroned in her affections ; and herself 
relying, not on stately temples and a pompous ceremonial, 
but on the felt presence of Deity, and the fellowship of the 
Spirit with him, for the power and glory of her worship. 
What profound abasement, what intense prayer, what re- 
joicing hope, what seraphic adoration would be there ! 
What unity of faith, what bliss of charity, what prepared- 
ness for action would be there ! All the members of the 
one church realizing their oneness with each other, by their 
Jiving connexion with their glorious Head ! The church 



DESIRABLE. 33 

would stand before your imagination like the vision of 
Ezekiel, in all its stupendous majesty; as manifold, yet 
one ; perfect in order, irresistible in power, complete in in- 
telligence ; full of eyes, full of life, and full of God. 

Then, what would be the effect of the prevalence of re- 
ligion over the world — over this fallen, guilty, and misera- 
ble world % We have seen that religion i| its only hope ; 
but religion is its sufficient hope, It can educe light from 
darkness, order from confusion, and life from death. It 
can restore man to himself, man to his brother, man to his 
Creator. Think, my brethren, of a world where virtue 
dies and vice is triumphant ; of a world where God is dis- 
owned, and the creature is idolized ; of a world enveloped 
in the shadow of death, over which angels weep, and God 
frowns terribly, restored to its rightful allegiance and lost 
happiness. Think of man, so lawless and rebellious now, 
so renewed in holiness and rectitude as to become a law to 
himself. Think of the spirit of love and of piety so preva- 
lent in all his engagements, as to make all his duties 
religious, all his days sabbatic, all his refreshments sacra- 
mental, and the very state of his mind a perennial thanks- 
giving to God. Think of leligion becoming so fully pre- 
dominant amongst men, as to obliterate the line of distinc- 
tion between the world and the church ; and to make the 
world itself one living and universal temple for the Divine 
residence and praise ! Think of this spiritual renovation 
as so deep, so holy ; and the blessedness springing from it 
so strong, so overflowing, as to express itself on the very 
face of earth and heaven ; to make itself visible and audi- 
ble in the repose, the melody, and the benignity of nature ; 
and to become to the posterity of Adam another and a bet- 
ter Paradise, from which they should never fall, in which 

3 



34 ITS ADVANCEMENT 

no serpent should be seen, and where the voice of God 
should be heard amongst the trees of the garden ! 

But the results at which we are glancing relate not so 
much to earth and time, as to heaven and eternity. Man 
is regarded as an immortal being ; and worlds unseen have 
a strange interest in his destiny. This interest terminates 
not in man ; it springs from the relation which his conduct 
has to his Creator. Here, we poor selfish creatures think 
chiefly of ourselves ; but other worlds, the evil and the 
good, look higher. The hate of the one is only satisfied 
with opposition to God ; and the love of the other is only 
content with the advancement of his glory. Our world, 
ruined or restored, is a mighty thing ; but it is little to 
them compared with the honor or dishonor done to God. 
The universe is thus pledged to the strife. All beings are 
parties; none are merely spectators ; and the issue is to 
determine the fate of man, the condition of angels, and the 
stability and honor of the Divine government ! 

Religion is to dispose of this conflict ; and so to dispose 
of it as to bring the highest glory to God. God takes 
occasion from the misery of man, and the malice of his 
enemies, to come out of his place, and reveal himself to his 
creatures as he was never seen. The capital difficulty of 
pardoning the criminal, and yet taking vengeance on the 
crime, is met by an expedient passing all wonder and all 
praise. The Son of God dwells in flesh! and in true hu- 
manity offers an illustrious sacrifice for human redemption. 
It is enough — it is enough ! The prey is taken from the 
mighty. The sinner is absolved. The world is reconciled. 
Law is more honored by the atonement of Christ than it 
could have been by the obedience of man. God, in all his 
perfections, pity and power, purity and goodness, mercy and 



DESIRABLE. 35 

majesty, grace and truth, is revealed in the effulgence of 
glory. The adversary of man sinks away from the insuf- 
ferable splendor into deeper darkness ; and the sons of 
light, cherubim and seraphim, renew in heaven their admi- 
ration, confidence, and praise ! 

My brethren, what shall we say to these things 1 Do 
misery and mortality abound in our world through sin ? 
Does religion supply an adequate remedy for all the evils 
by which it suffers 1 Does it present the only hope of life 
and peace to man 7 Are the means put forth by the 
church for the advancement of religion more considerable 
than in any former time? Is the Divine Providence 
encouraging the efforts made by propitious circumstances 
and remarkable facilities 1 Are the great results rather for 
eternity than for time ; and do they involve the noblest 
interests of man, the highest glory of God ? Is this the 
crisis of the world I And does the whole creation groan 
under the burden of death and sin for the promised re- 
demption 1 

What, then, have we been doing ? How is it that the 
great end of life, the advancement of the Saviour's king- 
dom amongst men, has had so little of our attention 1 Is 
it life to live for any lower object 7 Is it life to live to 
gratify our senses and appetites 7 Is it life to live to in- 
dulge a few tastes, which may flatter us into a belief of our 
superior refinement 7 Is it life to live to secure a name to 
ourselves, and to add house to house, field to field, and 
equipage to equipage 7 Is it not life to live to God 7 And 
have not God and his interests been sadly excluded from 
our life 7 

Surely the present subject should teach us to regard the 
advancement of religion not only as desirable, but indis- 
pensable. It is for our world the one thing needful ! Think 



36 ITS ADVANCEMENT DESIRABLE. 

not that we depreciate other things. They may be good 
in themselves ; they are as nothing when compared with 
rehgion. Bestow what you will on the world, it is not 
available for its necessities without religion. Enlighten it 
by science ; refine it by art ; civilize it by liberty and edu- 
cation ; it is still a lost world without religion. But give 
religion to it, and, in that very act, you save it, enlighten it, 
civilize it, and felicitate it to the utmost, and for ever ! 

Resolve, ray brethren, that henceforth this shall be to 
you the great end of life. Cultivate your tastes for the 
spirituality and blessedness of the kingdom of heaven. 
Know the bliss of angels, by identifying yourself with its 
interests and triumphs. Consecrate to it your whole being — 
your talent, your energy, your influence — your body, soul, 
and spirit. Now, that you are admonished of negligence 
and delay ; now, that the fulness of time is come ; now, 
that the work of redemption is done, and waits its applica- 
tion to a guilty world ; now, that the world, disappointed 
in every other hope, is looking towards heaven for some 
Just and Holy One to restore it to peace ; oh, make haste 
to bring back the Saviour and the King; make haste 
to proclaim him as the rightful Sovereign and blessed Po- 
tentate to the ends of the earth ; make haste to establish 
his kingdom over all empire and all people ! 

It shall come ! and when it comes you shall see it, if in 
this spirit you are laboring for its arrival ! In this blessed 
confidence, let the inspired prayer become your one, 
breathing, persevering, infinite desire : — " Thy kingdom 

COME V 



LECTURE II 



THE ADVANCEMENT OF RELIGION 



IN THE PERSON. 



LECTURE II. 

ITS ADVANCEMENT IN THE PERSON. 
" Tarry ye — until ye he endued with 'power from on high." 

In the previous Lecture we have spoken of religion, 
and of the advancement of religion, as inexpressibly de- 
sirable. May we not hope that, assisted by your own 
reflections, it has brought renewed conviction to your mind, 
and strengthened the most hallowed desires for the advent 
of the Saviour's kingdom amongst men ? 

If this effect is secured, you are conscious of a measure 
of self-reproach, and are cherishing a purpose of more 
entire devotedness. " But what," you eagerly ask, " what 
can I do ? As yet I have done little, very little, for this 
great cause. Much is required to be done. Time is short, 
and life is slipping away. I would fain do something. 
What can I best do ?" 

You look abroad on the instrumentality of the Church. 
It is various and manifold. You feel instantly, that to do 
good service you must concentrate what power you have, 
chiefly in some one method of usefulness. Public charity, 
social improvement, general education, domestic and foreign 
missions, the conservation of divine truth from error, and 
its circulation to the ends of the earth, all put in their 
claims for help. You will give them careful consideration ; 
and you will endeavor to commit yourself to that depart- 
ment of service, for which your tastes and circumstances 
best qualify you. 



40 ITS ADVANCEMENT 

This is natural, but nevertheless it is wrong ; and it is 
the prevailing error of the day. The calls of various 
objects are so clamorous, and our eagerness to obey one or 
several so great, that we are tempted to forget, that there 
is one object greater than they all, and necessary to them 
all ; and that is, the advancement of religion in ourselves. 
Religion must be promoted by religious men. The measure 
in which it is possessed, is the measure in which it is be- 
stowed. We cannot hope to raise others to a higher lertl, 
except as we first occupy it ourselves. If religion in us is 
feeble and deformed, we shall fail to propagate it, or it 
will become that poor, spurious, amphibious thing, un- 
worthy of the care of propagation. 

What we first and chiefly need then, is, before we look 
to others, to look to ourselves. The reason why so many 
do almost nothing, why what they do is done so ill, why 
the attention is so readily diverted to secondary and secta- 
rian considerations from the great things of our peace, is, 
that they require to possess religion for themselves in 
greater vitality, purity, and vigor. They may have received 
the Holy Spirit to their personal salvation; but if they are 
to make that salvation known in power to others, they re- 
quire to be more fully assured by its truth, enriched by its 
consolations, and elevated by its power to a higher region 
of Christian life. The primitive disciples, while their Lord 
was yet with them, had faith in his name ; but they were 
not prepared to declare that faith, with intelligence and 
power, for the salvation of the world. They were about to 
receive a great commission, and they were to tarry at Jeru- 
salem, in penitence, prayerfulness, and expectation, till they 
should receive a larger dispensation of the Spirit of grace. 

This subject, though different from the former, should 
not be less interesting. That was general, this is partic- 



IN THE PERSON. 41 

ular ; that was exhilarating, this is searching and humili- 
ating. It is of infinite moment -, but it can only become so 
to us, as we are prepared to dwell on our deficiencies, and 
to thirst for a higher state of spiritual and personal religion. 

Is it too much, then, to hope that in this exercise you 
will separate your thoughts from others, and fix them on 
yourself? That you will leave nothing to vague desires 
and unprofitable generalities ? that you will resolve to fa- 
miliarize your mind with your state of darkness, deficiency, 
and sin ? that you will resolve to seek an advanced state 
of religion for yourself, as indispensable to its advancement 
amongst men 1 This is the character of our present sub- 
ject, and this is the claim which it has on you. You need 
more of the light of truth, if you are to enlighten others ; 
you need more of the " grace of life," if you are to impart 
life to others. You need a supplemental conversion, if you 
are to convert sinners to God ; and you need a richer en- 
dowment of the Holy Ghost, if you are to express his 
unction and energy to the world. Let these be the living 
convictions of your mind. Nourish them in the immediate 
presence of God. Prostrate yourself before his Majesty 
in penitence and prayer ; and wait in breathing expectation, 
until you shall be endued with the Spirit from on high. 

We shall endeavor to fulfil the intention of this Lec- 
ture, by calling your attention to some particulars essential 
to your advancement in personal religion, and then to such 
means as may contribute to the proposed issue. 



I. 



1. In considering what is needful to an advanced state 
of personal religion, it will immediately occur to you, that 

3* 



42 ITS ADVANCEMENT 

it includes an increase of spiritual knowledge. Knowledge 
is the food of the mind ; and it can realize no. state of im- 
provement but by improved knowledge. Growth in grace 
and in knowledge are therefore united in scriptural exhor- 
tation, since we can only be affected by the unseen and 
eternal as we know them. The subject, though plain, is 
of such importance as perhaps to demand yet more distinct 
illustration. 

This knowledge comprehends a clearer perception of 
divine things. It is in this first element of life that Chris- 
tians are generally deficient. While anxiously inquiring 
for a state of salvation, they seek knowledge ; but when 
that state is thought to be secured, they repose on their 
attainments. This is the great cause of feebleness to them- 
selves and of unprofitableness to others. If you will treat 
the subject candidly, and entertain it with serious reflection, 
you will be surprised to find how obscure, indistinct, and 
feeble are your conceptions of the great objects of faith. 
Now, what is wanted is, that they should stand out before 
you in all their light and evidence, — that your eye should 
dwell on them, — that your mind should be filled with them 
and reflect them. They would then come to you with the 
power of a revelation. You would rather see than believe. 
You would see man bleeding and dying in his apostasy. 
You would see Christ crucified, set openly before your face. 
You would see God in the majesty of his perfections, and 
would be surrounded by his glory. " I have heard of thee 
by the hearing of the ear," you would say, " but now that 
mine eye seeth Thee, I abhor myself in dust and ashes." 

It is in this sense chiefly, we apprehend, that the Holy 
Spirit is styled, " the spirit of revelation." Not so much 
that He reveals new truths, as that He clothes existing 
and acknowledged truths with new light and power. It is 



IN THE PERSON. 43 

this also, which constitutes the main difference between one 
Christian and another. In every age, there have been 
some men who have surpassed others in eminence of piety 
and service; and these men, be assured, have excelled in 
their knowledge of God, and of the w^orld to come. It is 
just this which has created a difference in the same person, 
at two different periods in his life. A pastor of admirable 
talent and fruitfulness has recorded the fact, that it was not 
until the middle of his ministerial life, the grand truth of 
the mediation of Christ broke on his mind with over- 
whelming light and glory ; and it was from that period he 
dated his happiness as a Christian and his success as a min- 
ister of the New Testament. 

This knowledge, then, you will perceive, comprehends 
a deeper sense of divine things. The objects of which we 
are discoursing are such, in their ow^n nature, as to affect 
the heart and conscience. In the proportion, therefore, in 
which they are known, they must be felt. All Christians 
have some feeling, but they have not enough. They speak 
of a sense of the Divine presence, but they have it not. 
They are far more sensible of things visible and worldly 
than of such as are spiritual. The evils by w^hich the body 
suffers, are felt far more than those which afflict the soul. 
The world is near, felt, appreciated; but God is not near ; 
heaven is not near ; eternity is not near. There is no 
abiding awe of God ; no solemn joy in his presence ; no 
elevating sense of his superincumbent grace and majesty. 
The first disciples are our example in this particular. 
"That," say they, " which we have heard, which we have 
seen with our eyes, which w^e have looked upon, and our 
hands have handled of the word of life, declare we unto 
you." Mark the passage : no repetition of terms, no 
climax of speech is sufficient to express their inward con- 



44 ITS ADVANCEMENT 

sciousness of the truth, or their earnest desire that others 
should embrace it. They make manifest to men, what is 
first manifested to them. Their words are all light and life ; 
and they convey light and life to the earth's extremities. 

Allied to these remarks is another, that the knowledge 
we are commending to you, mcln^QS fellowshi'p. Fellow- 
ship is the intercourse of the spirit with God. As the truth 
which reveals Him is known, and as the heart is suitably 
affected by that knowledge, we are prepared for this high 
and blessed communion. It is not only reasonable, it is 
necessary, that it should be so. The soul, enlightened by 
truth, and dwelling under its influence, is restored to God, 
and seeks and finds its bliss in Him. As the eye communes 
with the hght ; as the ear feeds on sweet sounds; so does 
the renewed spirit rejoice in God its Maker. Advancing 
knowledge is advancing fellowship. The Apostles knew 
nothing of religion as a mere philosophical speculation. 
" That which we have seen," they say, " w^e declare — make 
manifest — unto you ; that your fellowship may be with us, 
and truly our fellowship is with the Father and with his 
Son Jesus Christ." Religion w^ith them is light, and it is 
love; and if we walk in the light, God who is light, who 
is love, dwelleth in us and we in Him. 

This communion is the fountain of all good to man. It 
prepares him for all happiness and all usefulness. At a 
distance from God, he is destitute of all good ; brought 
hear to God, he is the subject of a great restorative influ- 
ence by which he is recovered to all excellence. The mind 
and heart of God are brought to act on his spirit ; and he 
is drawn out of himself into blessed fellowship with God. 
He sees in His light; walks in His strength; reposes in 
His love ; and is enveloped with His glory. He thinks 
not of himself; he is full of God. He lives — greatly 



IN THE PERSON. 45 

lives — yet not he — God liveth in him. Beholding His glory, 
he is changed into the very glory on which He gazes, 
by which he is surrounded, by " the Lord the Spirit." 

.2. The advancement of personal religion comprehends 
an increase of true holiness. It will be immediately felt 
by you, that the very knowledge and fellowship to which 
we have referred is itself a state of holiness ; and that as 
it grows, our purity and desire of purity must advance. It 
shall be sufficient for us to indicate the growth of this 
moral taste, by two or three particulars. 

The first is a sensibility to the presence of sin. The 
laborious effort of the sinner is to palliate his offences, to 
pervert his judgment, and to hide himself from himself. 
But the Christian cometh into the light. He flatters not 
himself; he compares not himself with others. He brings 
himself, at once, to the inflexible rule of the Divine testi- 
mony that he may detect all his obliquities. Under such 
a test, applied to the human heart, he exclaims, " Who can 
understand its errors V He is amazed at himself, at 
others. Sin cannot now deceive him as once it did, by 
various appearances and subtle plausibilities. No ; sin is 
sin, though she come to him as an angel of light. Now, 
that sin is seen always, it is seen every lohere. In his heart 
and in his life ; in what he does, in what he omits to do ; 
in his prayers, in his confessions, in his tears. It is un- 
searchable, overwhelming. He has seen the glory of the 
Lord, and he is of unclean lips, and he dwells amongst a 
people of unclean lips ! 

Sin thus seen is seen only to be abhorred. By this ex- 
pression, I do not merely refer to the frank confession of 
sin, and an ordinary resolution to oppose its ensnarements. 
I refer to that wakeful and holy sensibility to its presence 



46 ITS ADVANCEMENT 

and character, which makes it most loathsome and intoler- 
able. The Christian, in advancing fellowship with God, 
has the mind of God. To His holy mind and infinite wis- 
dom, sin is only evil. It is the abominable thing ; He hates 
it with perfect hatred ; He cannot even look on it. This 
in measure is the spirit of the Christian. Sin to him, under 
every name and form, is hateful. God hates it infinitely ; 
and he must try to hate it infinitely. There is no distinction 
in his mind of venial and mortal sins. No — all sin is mor- 
tal ; and no sin is little. Every sin, though small it seems, 
is the plague-spot, and carries death with it. He shudders 
at it for the misery it brings ; but more for the pollution. 
Its presence distresses him ; his heart is broken, that he 
cannot come into the very presence of God without bring- 
ing what most He hates with him. He would part with 
life, to escape from sin ! 

This points to the settled temper of mind, in relation to 
this evil, which is humiliation for sin. He has holy indig- 
nation ; but his habitual feeling is not so much that of an- 
ger as of sorrow. The one might be nourished by pride ; 
the other is repentance unto life. He has sinned ; the • 
weight of that thought overwhelms him. *' What have I 
done ?" he says, " I have sinned ; against Thee I have sin- 
ned ; against Thee, my Maker, my Benefactor, my Saviour, 
I have sinned. Against Thee, to me so good, so patient, 
so kind, I have sinned. Against Thee, who hast loved me 
through life and unto death, I have sinned. Wretched 
man that I am, who shall deliver me ? sin, which I abhor, 
is still with me and cleaves to me hke a leprosy ! What 
shall I do ; whither shall I flee ?" He sinks down before 
the feet of his Saviour in sorrow and in love. He is 
ashamed, confounded ; he will never open his mouth more 
to palliate his offences or vindicate or exalt himself. 



IN THE PERSON. 47 

These remarks lead to one other ; that such a state of 
mind involves a positive taste for holiness. An antipathy 
to sin is, in fact, a love of holiness. He dies to the one 
and lives to the other. He sees it, he admires it, he longs 
and labors to possess it. It is his life — his world — his 
heaven. Pardon he needs, but not so much as holiness. 
He desires to escape punishment, but more to find himself 
holy. Annihilate hell and heaven, he would still pant for 
holiness, and in having it, would have all things. This is 
the highest reason of his love. It is the bond of his attach- 
ment to saints, to angels, and to God himself. God is per- 
fectly holy, and therefore he is the object of perfect compla- 
cency. His holiness gives depth to his devotions, repose to 
his trust, and elevation to his hopes. He charges himself 
and every creature with folly; and wrapt in worship he ex- 
claims with all the sanctified, " Holy, holy, holy, is the 
Lord God Almighty," 

Religion in our world is the only antagonist of sin ; and 
who is to assist her in this mighty conflict ? who but the 
man that is penetrated with the evil of sin ; that detects it 
every where, and hates it with perfect hatred ; and is one 
with the Almighty in seeking to banish it from the habita- 
tions of men 1 

3. In the third place, to advance the kingdom of 
heaven amongst men, you need the spirit of foith. It is 
not meant that in the common acceptation of the term, you 
must truly believe ; but, that you need that measure of 
faith which the apostle would designate as " the full assu- 
rance of faith;" you need that faith which realizes its ob- 
jects ; which has confidence in them as unquestionably true ; 
and rejoices in them as inconceivably excellent. 

Such a faith will operate thus : Religion asserts the 



48 ITS ADVANCEMENT 

claims of the good, the eternal, the infinite, over the claims 
of every thing in this world, which she shows to be tempo- 
rary, finite, and perishable. Now, if these two classes of 
objects were placed equally before us, and the mind were 
unbiassed by any corrupt tendencies, it would be natural 
and necessary, that it should prefer the first class to the 
second. But it is not so. The good, the infinite, the 
eternal are not seen, are not believed, are not allowed 
their due weight in the balance of reason. The world 
is present, is pressing on the sight, and soliciting the affec- 
tions ; and too soon allures the willing mind to a fatal con- 
fidence. 

It is the sole province of faith to reclaim us from this 
ruinous preference. Faith brings near the distant, makes 
visible the invisible, and clothes with present substance and 
reality the spiritual and eternal. Now, that they are pre- 
sented to the mind on equal terms, seen together and ia 
contrast, and judged impartially, all that the world has, 
and of which it boasts, is vanity and lighter than vanity, 
poised against the heavenly and everlasting. 

Such is the character of faith ; and as it prevails it 
conveys to erring and feeble man, something of the might 
of its author. It emancipates us from the dominion of sense 
and of sin ; and places us in immediate fellowship with 
God. The mind of God is its mind ; the will of God its 
will ; the arm of God its strength. What is it that this 
faith has not done ? What is it that it hath not suff*ered, 
and rejoiced to suffer ? Let but this faith abound in you, 
and it shall do what it has ever done. The mountain shall 
be cast down and the valley exalted ; sin shall be spoiled 
of her snares and death of his terrors ; men shall feel in 
you the powers of the world to come, and shall abandon 
all for its sake ! 



IN THE PERSON. 49 

4. Finally, advanced personal religion implies an in- 
crease in the spirit of love. Love is the fruit of faith, and 
its best companion. The " love of the Spirit" is the spirit 
of religion. It is ihe most noble, generous, and operative 
principle with which we are conversant. 

In us, however, it is mostly very deficient. We have 
a divided heart. Our very state is often made doubtful to 
us. It is a question, whether the love of the world or of 
God predominates in us. This leaves us listless, feeble, 
and unhappy. 

Yet religion is most favorable to its life and growth. It 
is not only revealed as a doctrine ; it is made vital and 
visible by example. The Saviour was the incarnation of 
love. His w^as love, pure, constant, changeless, inexhaust- 
ible. His love is that of the Creator to his creatures. It 
is that of a friend and benefactor to his enemies. His is 
the love of preference ; he passed by the angels, and his 
delights were with the sons of men. His love was the love 
of sacrifices. It was more to him than heaven ; for he 
came down from heaven to seek and to save us. It was 
more than life ; for he gave up his life freely that he might 
redeem us from death. It was in him the spirit of perfect 
devotedness. He lived out of himself and in others. 
Their interests were his interests, and their happiness his 
happiness. Poverty was wealth, ignominy was honor, 
death was gain, if he could bring good to the objects of 
his love. 

This example uf unparalleled love is given for us to 
copy. The same mind that was in Christ should be in us. 
Our love should be supreme, fixed, undoubted and unbound- 
ed. Ease and honor and wealth and life itself, should 
not be dear to us, if they may testify the breadth and depth 
of our love to him. To be like his, it must be of this char- 



50 ITS ADVANCEMENT 

acter. If of this character and force, it would instantly 
improve all our modes of thinking and acting for the ad- 
vancement of his kingdom. 

You now speak familiarly of two interests, your own 
and his. But this love w^ould destroy this heterodox dis- 
tinction. Love makes two one. His honor would be yours, 
his prosperity yours, his life yours. Your interest would 
be absorbed in those of Christ, and you would be identical 
and one. 

You now speak of sacrifices made for his cause, and 
expect sympathy and admiration in making them. His 
love would destroy the very sentiment, and make it abhor- 
rent to you. What ! sacrifices — painful sacrifices — for 
Christ ! His sacrifices for us were real ; our sacrifices for 
him are mere figures of speech. The true love of Christ 
would not only reject the sentiment, it would reverse it. It 
would place all the sacrifice and self-denial on the other 
side. The sacrifice would then be found, not in giving, 
but withholding ; not in action, but in doing nothing ; not 
in suffering, but in exemption from suffering. 

All this, so far from being extravagant, turns on a simple 
principle of our common nature. It is this ; when once an 
object is supremely loved, we live in that object ; and our 
happiness is found in all that pleases it. While it is unhappy, 
we cannot be otherwise ; and to diminish its suffering by suf- 
fering ourselves, is to us happiness. Tell an affectionate 
mother that she must not watch at the couch of her dying, 
her only son. Where is the self-denial ? She must be 
with him ! You are cool, to calculate on injury to herself, 
and to advise ] but does she calculate on the probabilities 
of disease and death to herself before she determines ? 
No; she must be with him, gaze on him, soothe him, love 
him to the last, come what may ! Suffer what she may, 



IN THE PERSON. 51 

she will suffer more, if you tear her from the presence of 
her child. 

It is this love, not merely real, but ardent, supreme con- 
trolling, that we so greatly need to render the whole service 
of Christian life easy and delightful. It would be in us the 
spirit of entire consecration. We should be not our own, 
but Christ's. What relates to his interest and honor would 
be every thing to us, and what held not that relationship 
nothing. Have what we might, we could not be happy 
while his name was despised, his cause languishing, his will 
unaccomplished. It would be our meat and our drink to do 
it, though it were to be done in tears and in blood. We 
should suffer more if it were not done, than all w^e could 
endure in seeking to fulfil it. 

Could the church be said to want any thing, if she were 
only baptized with this spirit ? If this love of Christ were 
so shed abroad in the heart, as to obtain the power of a 
reigning passion, how far should we be from a millennial 
state ? how long before the w^orld would be prostrate at the 
feet of our Lord and Saviour ? 

1 think it must be felt,, that these elements of Christian 
character, though briefly illustrated, are with much pro- 
priety comprehended under the general denomination of 
" power from on high." Light is power, faith is power, 
love is power, strong as death. Apart they are strong, 
together irresistible. To suppose a Christian possessed of 
this inward piety, not in a perfect, but in an advanced and 
matured state, is to suppose him prepared for " every good 
word and work." Such a man w^ould be strong in unity 
of purpose; strong in weight of character; strong in re- 
solved devotedness. In him there w^ould be no fear and no 
presumption ; no excitement and no apathy ; none of the 
perturbations of vanity and selfishness. Blind in difficulties, 



52 ITS ADVANCEMENT 

deaf to discouragements, assured of his object^ nothing 
should be able to divert him from his course. Identified 
rather with the interests of heaven than of earth, he would 
move amongst men almost w^ith the facility and grace of 
an angel, in seeking to restore them to their lost allegiance 
and blessedness. Happy beyond expression should he be, 
if by any mode of life or of death he might thus contribute 
to bless his kindred on earth, and to glorify his Saviour in 
heaven ! Such was Abraham at Moriah, Paul at Rome, 
John in Patmos, and Stephen in Jerusalem. 



11. 



It remains for us to consider the means by which w^e 
may hope to enjoy this advanced state of personal piety. 

Weshall content ourselves, on this occasion with a limit- 
ed reference to the subject, as it is suggested by the passage 
already quoted. The disciples were to fulfil a great work ; 
at present they were wholly disqualified for it ; and they 
were to wait at Jerusalem until they should be endued with 
power from on high. 

1. It teaches us to mark the source of this improved 
character. It is from " on high."' Heaven is the region of 
power. " That which is of earth is earthly ; that which 
is from heaven is above all." Man is a fallen creature, 
and has not spiritual life in himself; he is weak, and has 
no power of reproduction. He can never know this life, 
except he is quickened from on high ; he will only ad- 
vance in it, as it is nourished by heavenly fellowship. All 
his tendencies are in the opposite direction. He is corrupt 
and inclines to corruption. 



IN THE PERSON. 53 

Your only hope must be in God. Life is from Him. 
We are treating of life in its highest manifestations -, it is 
from Him. Light and humility ; faith and love ; all the 
elements of true and Hving piety ; are from Him. They 
are in Him abundantly. In what glory can He reveal the 
truth to the mind ; with what power can He sustain the 
holiest emotions ; with what grace of speech, of manner, of 
feeling, cannot He endow us, for his service 1 Entertain 
large 'hope in Him. Let your mind be shut up to the con- 
clusion that none, on earth or in heaven, can help you but 
God ; yet fully believe that He can do for you exceeding 
abundantly above all that you can ask or think. In His 
resources He is infinite ; He has pledged those resources of 
wisdom, grace, and power, by promise to his people. What 
He is to them. He is to you ; you by fellowship with him 
may be greatly participant of all that is in God ; and God 
may so dwell in you as that the world may see it and ex- 
claim. Will God in very deed dwell with man on the earth ! 

2. Acknowledge to yourself and to God your need of 
qualification. By this I do not mean, that we should make 
our ordinary admissions, with our ordinary state of feeling, 
of personal insufficiency and dependence on God. I refer 
to the subject as cherished by reflection and self-inspection, 
till it becomes the familiar, habitual, deep conviction of the 
soul, that we have almost no preparation for the spiritual 
service to which we are called. 

If the former portion of this Lecture has passed before 
the mind to any good purpose, it must have created such 
impressions ; and these should be nourished in us by present 
and daily meditation on our unfitness and disability. How 
is it that you have, up to this time, done so little, enjoyed 
so little of that religion which has every claim to service, 



54 ITS ADVANCEMENT 

and every element* of felicity ? Is it not to be referred to 
the simple fact, that you possess so little? Can you enjoy 
what you have not 1 Can you bestow what you have not 1 
Your piety is too low to discover itself, too feeble to repro- 
duce itself on others. You complain " that it is vain for 
you to try — that men are so indifferent — that when you 
make an effort they feel nothing." Oh ! it is of yourself 
you should complain ! you are dark and you are indifferent. 
They do not see, because your perceptions are so weak ; 
they do not feel, because you are so luke-warm. They 
return to you only the reflection of yourself! 

You have perhaps professedly sought the welfare of 
others, when you have not been assured of your own salva- 
tion. Grace has been so low in your heart, that when 
you have sought for it, it could not be found. You have 
exhorted others to faith, and have doubted of your own. 
Your prayers have been without life, your hope without 
joy, your temper without seriousness, and your speech 
without savor. Often when conscience suggested the 
rieedful rebuke or entreaty, it has died on your lips ; and 
you have received an impression yrom the world, instead of 
imparting one to it. And is it thus, that men are to be 
persuaded to adopt our religion T Is it thus that the world, 
which is enmity to God, is to be subdued to Himself ? Too 
many, alas ! already, from the poor forms of religion as seen 
in us, have been fortified in infidelity ; and have made haste 
to conclude, that in declining such a religion they did but 
reject a doubted good, and oppose a doubtful authority. 

Come at once, then, under the living sense of your spi- 
ritual necessities. If religion is to be to you a fountain of 
enjoyment, and a means of blessedness to the world, it must 
be known by you, dwell in you as it has never been ! Con- 
fess, freely confess, your darkness, your estrangement, your 



IN THE PERSON. 55 

unbelief, your unpreparedness. Feel, deeply feel, that for 
any good purpose, you have nothing and need all things. 
In your emptiness and sin, place yourself before God ; and 
wait, where archangels wait, in profound humihation, and 
you, even you, shall be filled with all His fulness ! 

3. The spirit of the instruction is, that we are to seek 
this power from on high. The disciples were to wait, but 
not to loiter. They were to use the means appropriate to 
the end at which they were looking, and in expectation of 
the promise. We are to wait, but not to the neglect of 
present duty and opportunity. The fneglect of one duty 
will never qualify us for another. We are to fulfil needful 
duty, in the hope that it may contribute to advance us to a 
better state -, and every where and in every thing we are to 
be penetrated with the thorough and humbling conviction 
of our unspeakable spiritual necessities. 

Suitably to entertain this spirit and to seek the good 
we need, we must retire. It is not meant that we are to 
leave the world. If it is to be converted, we must not 
abandon it, nor must we be conformed to it. On the 
whole, we are too much in the world and to far too little 
purpose. We receive its character ; we are fretted by its 
anxieties ; burthened with its cares ; and perhaps seduced 
by its pleasures. 

But if we are Christians, it is by our instrumentality 
that the world is to be converted. Yet it is manifest, that 
in this spirit, it will never be effected. We must retire. 
We must break the charm practised on us by the world, by 
shutting it up from the senses. We must consider, that we 
live in the world for its salvation ; and that, even in seeking 
it, we are exposed to dangers. We must brace up the 
mind to an abiding sense of our high vocation, and by 



56 ITS ADVANCEMENT 

solemn sequestration from the world prepare to fulfil it. 
By all means we must be alone; alone, that we may be 
with God ; alone, that we may nourish our faith and hope 
in heaven ; alone, that we may place the world at a dis- 
tance and recollect ourselv^es from its endless bustle and 
frivolous engagements. 

Meditate. Retire, not for reverie, not from spleen, but 
for deep and profitable meditation. The world has every 
thing to fear from reflection, you every thing to hope. As- 
sert your independence. Exclude the vain, the trifling, the 
perishable; and welcome the great, the unseen, the eternal 
to your thoughts. Dwell on them long and earnestly, till 
you shall rest in their shadow, and partake of their calm 
and solemn elevation. Under the light of Holy Scripture, 
acquaint yourself with the present condition of men, and 
with the predominant design of God in relation to this 
world. Know that you should live only to do his will ; 
and rejoice to know that his highest will is to establish the 
kingdom of heaven on earth. Fill your heart and mind 
with the contemplation of all the blessedness which shall 
come to men on the restoration of that spiritual empire, and 
take up the deliberate resolution to live only for its sake. In 
this temper of mind, pour shame and reproach on the folly of 
your past life, and register the better convictions of the 
present hour in a faithful memory. Admit freely, fully, to 
yourself the sense of poverty, want and sin which will come 
over you, and assure yourself afresh that God is able to 
make all grace abound towards you. Be still with God ; 
rise from yourself to Him ; be filled with the thought of 
Him. Your remedy is not in yourself, nor in self-contem- 
plation ; it is with God. You will never be recovered to 
greatness, but by His greatness ; to goodness, but by His 
excellence ; to happiness, but by His favor ; or to service, 



IN THE PERSON. 57 

but by an unction from Him. Be still with God — and you 
shall be as the sun coming forth from his chamber, full of 
light, power, and influence from heaven. 

Pray. Such a state of mind as we have intimated is 
prayer. Recognise it, indulge it to the utmost. Restrict 
not the spirit, when it would discourse with heaven ; give 
it space to breathe, to wrestle, to soar. Especially at such 
a time, give uniti/ to your prayer. What, of all things, 
you desire, is the accession of the kingdom of God ; and, 
subordinate to this, your personal preparation to assist its 
arrival. Concentrate all desire in this, and you shall be 
mighty in prayer. 

Let your prayer be full of hope. Feel that you are in 
the presence of a Father, who is more ready to give than 
you are to receive. Know that now the Son is given, 
there is nothing so much in the heart of the Father, as to 
give the Holy Spirit to renew the w^orld, and to renew 
you. This is the promise of the Father ; of all promises 
the greatest. Take firm hold on it ; expect that it shall 
be accomplished ; accomplished in you. That you, dark 
and sinful as you are, may, according to the riches of his 
glory, be strengthened with might in your inner man by 
his Spirit ; that Christ may dwell in your heart by faith ; 
that you may know the love of Christ which passeth know- 
ledge, and that you may triumph in making it known to 
others. 

Persevere in prayer. It is well and wise to improve 
the favorable season, when the mind is awake and the heart 
suggestive ; but w^e must not limit ourselves to it. Duty is 
uniform, and the more needful when the least desired. In 
prayer, if we believe the promise of the Father, and his 
faithfulness to his promise, and do not persevere to ask it, 
we do not mean to have it. But, so far as Draver is eon- 

4 



58 ITS ADVANCEMENT 

cerned, the benefit we do not mean to secure, is the benefit 
God does not mean to give. If you can take a denial, you 
may expect a denial. The state of grace to which we are 
referring is of infinite excellence, and it must be regarded 
with unlimited, infinite desire. It is life to you, life to the 
world ; yea, it comprehends the life and glory of our Lord 
and Saviour. It must be to you as of the first necessity. 
Have what you may, you must feel that you cannot be 
happy if your Saviour is not glorified, if his kingdom is not 
advanced, and if you may not assist its advancement. You 
can part with any thing if this may be accomplished. In 
this mind, you will lay your grasp on the promise, and 
look up in unutterable prayer to your Father in heaven, 
feeling that it would be easier to suffer death than denial. 

Receive the Holy Spirit. Much of our prayer is selfish 
and imperfect ; its energy springs from earth rather than 
from heaven. We often wrestle in prayer, as if we were 
most willing to receive, and God were unwilling to give. 
But the command to receive the Holy Spirit, like the whole 
tenor of the Gospel, implies that God is willing, and that 
we alone are unwilling. Under the full weight of this truth 
you must come. God is most true ; he has promised the 
gift of his Spirit to those who rightly ask it. If, then, the 
Spirit is not given, and you do not receive it, the obstruc- 
tion and blame must be with you. Suppose a broken-heart- 
ed parent should say, " There is a home for my wandering 
child, a father's arms are spread ready to receive him. I 
have sent him my assurances, that if he forsake his ways, 
and return to me, he shall be freely pardoned, graciously 
received, and endowed with his lost inheritance ; — but he 
will not come." Where, in such a case, would be the 
blame, the guilt ? And in your case, if you receive not the 
Holy Spirit, where will rest the blame ? Can you have a 



IN THE PERSON. 59 

richer promise 1 Can you have kinder invitations ? Can 
you be supplied with stronger assurances ? 

Awake, then, to the affecting conclusion, that you areSnot 
straitened in God, but that you are straitened in yourself. 
God is ready ; all things are ready ; but you are not ready. 
The promise is near; the Spirit is near; you move in an 
element of light and glory. Darkness and obstruction are 
alone with you. Your I'pride, your prejudice, your world- 
liness, are to you a thick veil, which prevents your percep- 
tion and participation of the glory which surrounds you ! 
Will you endure any longer to be excluded, by your own 
hand, from this state of excelling light and blessedness ? 
Cast away, once and for ever, all that hath hindered your 
entrance to the kingdom of God. Open your whole mind 
and heart to the full accession of the Spirit of grace, and 
you shall be filled with the might and majesty of his pre- 
sence. He shall dwell in you, walk in you, reign in you. 
You shall be inspired wuth all wisdom, strengthened 
with all might, fitted for all service. You need infinitely 
the Holy Spirit ; you need nothing besides. Receive the 
Holy Spirit. 

What is the summary of this exercise ? It is this, — 
that the high and ruling purpose of God our Saviour is to 
establish his kingdom on earth ; that this, as his true disci- 
ple, should be also your chief purpose in life ; but that you 
cannot rightly entertain the purpose of advancing religion 
amongst men, except as it is itself advanced in you. What 
accumulated motive does this supply to seek a state of pre- 
eminent piety ! Apart from the personal felicity it w^ould 
secure, it is the only adequate means of extending the 
Saviour's empire amongst men. All things wait for this. 
It is not property, or talent, or numbers, that we want ; it 
is exactly the right mind and the devoted heart. We need 



60 ITS ADVANCEMENT 

a clearer perception of the truth, a deeper humiliation be- 
fore God, a realizing faith in the life to come, and the con- 
secration of our united affections to Christ. We need that 
ruling love to Him which shall make His afflictions more 
to us than our private sorrow ; and His prosperity more to 
us than our private gain and enjoyment. From want of 
this the missionary languishes in the field, and the merchant 
hoards his profits; the Christian lives to himself, and the 
church slumbers at her post ; or springs into fitful action 
from the jealous fear of being outdone. The enemy is 
strong, and we are w^eak. 

Is this a discouraging view of the subject ? In one 
respect, at least, it is the reverse. You have often looked 
abroad on the manifold causes which, in your judgment, 
impeded the progress of religion in the world ; and feeling 
that most of them were beyond your reach, you have re- 
garded them with a measure of despondency. You are 
now to mark, that there is one, one only cause for this evil ; 
and that is, the want of more holiness in its professed dis« 
ciples. This would at once secure to us all that we could 
desire. We should have men enough, and of the right 
temper ; means enough, and of the right character. Prayer 
would take a deeper tone ; property would be given on a 
larger scale ; the mind would receive a juster conception 
of the grandeur of our object ; the heart would be braced 
by one magnanimous purpose ; and the band of the redeem- 
ed would be as one man to claim the world for Christ. 

This, so far as you are concerned, resolves itself into 
the fact, that to advance religion, you need, deeply need, a 
more elevated state of knowledge and holiness. This is the 
only practical and profitable conclusion. W^hile each 
Christian shall content himself with looking on others, 
and deploring generally their state, no reformation will 



IN THE PERSON. 61 

come ; but when each one shall look at himself apart, and 
mourn apart, and apart pray as in agony, that the kingdom 
of heaven, which is to be set up in the world, may first 
come within himself, then the millennial day is begun ! 
And will you delay to seek this blessedness for yourself — 
for mankind ? Can you endure that religion should stand 
still with you ? and that you should be an obstacle to its 
predictive triumphs ? Can you endure that Christ should 
be dishonored in you ; and that at his coming he should 
find : you slothful, worldly, selfish, living to yourself and 
not to him ? In this great service, are you willing to be 
regarded as a hinderance rather than a prepared instrument ? 
Oh, what a responsibility is yours ! What a destination is 
yours ! What a joy may be yours ! Angels covet your 
position for glorifying the Saviour, reviving the church, and 
converting, the world to God ! Your individval interests 
are inseparably linked with the highest and the best. The 
redemption of lost men, the honor of the exalted Mediator, 
are become motives to your personal holiness, and univer- 
sal eternal devotedness. Know your calling. Enter into 
the kingdom of God. Receive, with an expanded heart, 
the Holy Ghost ! 



LECTURE III 



THE ADVANCEMENT OF RELIGION 



BY PERSONAL EFFORT. 



LECTURE III. 

ITS ADVANCEMENT BY PERSONAL EFFORT. 
^^ Let him that heareth say, Come,^' 

Life is communicative. It is so in the Creator : his 
works are the proof of it. It is so even in the creature ; and 
the more excellent the order of life, the greater the power 
of communication. 

Religion is life ; the most excellent mode of life. It is 
communicative in the highest degree. Not to desire to 
impart it to others, is evidence that we have it not ; and the 
degree in which we are blessed with it, is the degree in 
which we shall labor to bestow it. 

These remarks comprehend the essence both of the 
past and present exercise. We have treated first of the 
advancement of religion in ourselves, because we cannot 
give what we have not received ; and in the full recollec- 
tion of that subject we now proceed to remark on the ad- 
vancement of religion in others by our personal effort. 

This subject is of great importance. It is one in which 
every Christian has an interest. It has not been sufficiently 
regarded. It is eminently practical ; and requires to be 
treated with simplicity, with earnestness, and with some ex- 
perience of character. Let us look on it with seriousness, 
and with a prayerful desire to profit. 

The theme is large as well as importannt, and is to be 
approached in various ways. It may be of advantage, 
therefore, to concentrate our thoughts on one simple propo- 

4* 



66 ITS ADVANCEMENT 

sition — That it is the duty of each Christian to seek the con- 
version of men to Christ. 

It may be proper to refer to the duty, because it has 
been neglected ; it may be equally necessary to supply 
some directions in discharging it, because many have 
thought it difficult ; and it may be desirable to glance at 
the motives which should sustain us, that we may not fail 
under discouragement. 



I. 



Then, it is the duty of the Christian to seek the conver- 
sion of men to Christ. 

If the importance and universality of this obligation 
have been overlooked, it is of so self-evident a character as 
scarcely to have been disputed ; and what therefore is 
chiefly wanted is to revive in the mind the apprehension of 
the subject. 

1. First of all, have respect to the plain testimony of 
Holy Scripture. What can be the import of the following 
precepts 1 "Thou shall not suffer sin on thy brother." 
" Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself." " He that 
winneth souls ^is wise ;" and " he shall shine as the stars 
for ever." " He that converteth a sinner from the error 
of his way, shall save a soul from death." " Freely ye 
have received, freely give." " Let him that heareth, say, 
Come." Do we not suffer sin on our brother except we 
seek his conversion ? Can we love our neighbor as our- 
self, unless we labor to impart to him what to ourselves is 
most valuable 1 If we do not endeavor to deliver the soul 
that is drawn unto death, can we be innocent ? Have we 



BY PERSONAL EFFORT. 67 

freely received the gospel, that in our turn we may freely 
give it to others ; and can we be faithful to our trust, if it 
is withheld 1 

2. Regard your profession. What is it 1 Essentially, 
it is a profession to love God. Can you with any consist- 
ency or even sincerity maintain such a profession unless 
you are jealous for his interests and anxious to promote his 
honor ? Can it be an insignificant circumstance to you, 
seldom crossing your mind or disturbing your peace, that 
you live in a world where He is disowned, dishonored, and 
blasphemed ? Where men are in common rebellion against 
him? Where vice and crime in their most malignant forms 
are ever offending his sight ? If you supremely love him, 
must it not embitter your bread and trouble your spirit day 
and night 1 When I beheld the transgressors I was grieved, 
because they kept not thy law ! 

3. Consider your relationship. Man, what is he to 
you ? Is he not your brother ? Have you not one Father 
— one nature — one immortality ? Do you owe him nothing 7 
Is he not bone of your bone, flesh of your flesh 1 Do 
you owe him nothing 1 You must deny the relation, be- 
fore you deny the claim. He was the first murderer, who 
exclaimed, '* Am I my brother's keeper ?" And he is no 
less a murderer in the sight of our common Father, who 
dares to repeat it. And to him who utters it, and to him 
who repeats it, earth and heaven reply, " Yes, sinful man, 
you are your brother's keeper !" 

4. Listen to the dictates of common sentiment. How 
does it express itself? If a fellow-being were exposed to 
perish by fire or water, and you were able] to render assist- 



68 ITS ADVANCEMENT 

ance and did not, would not the general voice of humanity 
break forth to denounce and condemn you ? Yea, would 
not your own heart condemn you, and would you not blush 
to feel yourself less than man 7 And since, as a Christian, 
you profess to be awake to the spiritual interests of man, must 
you not, at least, feel equally on interests which you believe 
to be infinitely superior *? But I forbear to multiply con- 
siderations, where conviction must be at once established. 

5. Let it be observed, that the duty contemplated pro- 
poses to convert men to Christ. We are to seek nothing 
less than their conversion. There is much mistake here ; 
and much zeal is vair»ly expended, which, under better guid- 
ance, might lead to the most happy results. Many who 
labor for the good of others, especially amongst the young, 
seek far too little. They would induce them to read, to 
pray, to abstain from evil, and to observe the ordinary 
means of grace, and they are more or less satisfied, if for 
the present they succeed to this amount. There is a world 
of error in this ; and it ends in the fatal delusion of multi- 
tudes. To avoid this course, establish two points firmly 
in your mind. First, that nothing is done for a sinner till 
he is converted. I have known many a parent, truly anx- 
ious for the welfare of a beloved child, remark, " My son, 
I cannot say, is converted ; but he is, I trust, in a hopeful 
state." This is an unsound and dangerous distinction. 
An unconverted state cannot be a hopeful state. He who 
is iinconverted is at enmity with God, is in a state of sin, 
and is a child of wrath even as others ; and this is his un- 
mitigated condition, whatever fair appearances may be 
assumed, up to the moment of his conversion. 

Second, remember carefully, that conversion is not prO' 
gressive. Great error prevails on this particular ; and it 



BY PERSONAL EFFORT. 69 

is mostly the source of the error we have just noticed. 
Means may be used in reference to conversion ; and the 
use of them, as well as their influence on the mind, may 
be spread over a progressive period ; but conversion itself 
is not progressive, it is instantaneous. It consists essen- 
tially of that one act in which the will is determined for 
God ; and it necessarily occurs at some instant of the sin- 
ner's life. The prodigal of the gospel must have been the 
subject of much reflection and conflict ; but he was only 
converted at the instant in which he resolved that he would 
arise and go to his father. This would seem so clear as 
not to admit of various opinion. 

Yet different opinion has obtained in the church ; and 
to this day it is exercising a paralyzino- and deadly influ- 
ence. It is thought not only that means have a progres- 
sive character, but that conversion itself is progressive ; 
that if instantaneous conversions are possible, they are not 
desirable ; and that conversions are sound in proportion as 
they are slow in their development. Can any thing be 
more absurd, more mischievous 1 If conversion must be a 
work of time, then it would be folly of you to expect it 
now ; if it must be spread over months and years, then the 
sinner may postpone his conversion, and satisfy himself 
that his present state is the best possible to him now. 
And all this time, he is hardening his heart by cherishing 
at once his hope and his enmity ! 

Be not partaker of other men's sins. While you give 
to means their place and honor, let no sinner, through you, 
be deceived by them. Claim nothing less of him than to 
repent of his sins, to turn -to God, and to submit to the 
righteousness of Christ. Let him know that this is essen- 
tially comprehended in one act of the mind ; that it occurs 
at once ; that it ought to occur now, — instantly ; and that 



70 ITS ADVANCEMENT 

up to the moment in "which it is refused, he is unpardoned, 
and in the bonds of iniquity. 

Permit me to connect another caution with the subject 
of conversion. Do not seek for more than this. One re- 
grets that such a remark should be needful. The consid- 
eration of the sinner's enmity and peril, and of his instant 
reconciliation to God, should have an absorbing power on 
the mind. But there are few, alas ! so Christian as not to 
be sectarian. They would have the sinner indeed convert- 
ed to God, but they would also convert him to themselves. 
It is not enough that he should become a new creature, 
he must also become Independent or Baptist, Methodist or 
Episcopalian. It is not enough that, renouncing vain 
idols, he should worship God who is a Spirit, " in spirit 
and in truth ;" he must bow at their altar, use their forms, 
and strengthen their party. 

Mark such a course only to condemn it. At such a 
crisis of the sinner's life, to mix any secondary considera- 
tions with the momentous subject of his salvation, would 
distract his attention, would lead him to suspect your mo- 
tives, and would certainly show that you had but a feeble 
impression of his awful estate. Oh ! be content if, by 
Divine grace, he shall be brought to Christ, though he be 
brought not to your sanctuary ; be content that he is added 
to the number of the redeemed, though he swell not the 
number of your particular fold. Mar not your efforts, at 
such a time, by any secondary subject. It is vital that he 
should be saved — that he should be a Christian. You may 
safely leave him afterwards, with the New Testament in 
his hand, to decide on lesser points; and if your opinions 
on them are scriptural, they are the more likely to be 
adopted. 



BY PERSONAL EFFORT. 71 

6. Finally, remember that tliis duty is yours. Yes, if 
you are a Christian, then it is yours. It is the high and 
imperative duty of every Christian to seek the conversion of 
men to God. Age, sex, circumstance, ^fbrra no release. 
There is not a Christian who hears me, so young, so in- 
experienced, so feeble, but he is bound to fulfil it to his ut- 
most capacity. He that heareth is to say. Come. Not 
the Spirit merely — not the church merely — not the minis- 
ter merely — but he that heareth is to say, Come. The 
duty is coextensive with the privilege. Have you heard 
the blessed sound of the gospel 1 then you are bound to re- 
peat it. Have you received it as your salvation ? then by 
the very act of receiving it, you are bound to bestov^ it. 
Has it brought life and peace to you ? then must you labor 
to convey it as life and joy to others. The rule has no 
exception. 

If this is so true as to be self-evident, it is singular, that 
the question of lay agency should have been thought to 
have a refined and difficult character. Some deprecate it ; 
some renounce it. Many who allow it have their misgiv- 
ings, and in their fear surround it with precautions. There 
is reason to apprehend that such discussion, even when 
wisely maintained, may, on the whole, weaken the sense 
of obligation. Where there is room for dispute, there is 
place for doubt ; and what is held to be doubtful will be 
more or less the subject of neglect. Now there may be 
some care required in drawing the line of demarcation be- 
tween personal and official service ; but there never ought 
to have been a doubt cast on the great truth, that every 
Christian is bound to the full extent of his power, to make 
known to others the gospel which has brought to him par- 
don and life. Lay agency is as extensive as lay piety. 

This great truth, so well known to the primitive disci- 



72 ITS ADVANCEMENT 

pies, is the truth chiefly requiring to be revived in our day. 
It is by its efficacious operation on the conscience, that we 
are to expect the spread of religion over the world. Men 
look indeed to methods more combined and imposing. 
They say. Erect churches ; secure opulent endowments ; 
protect yourselves by the patronage of the state. No : 
there is yet a method more simple, more philosophical, 
more spiritual, which shall effect more than they all. It is 
just this : that the man who has believed in Christ shall 
make him known to other men. This is what . we want. 
The church will never go into her millennium without it. 
"When every man who knows the Lord shall say unto his 
neighbor, " Know the Lord," it shall quickly be followed 
by the fact, " that all shall know him, from the least even 
to the greatest." " Let him that heareth say, Come." 

II. 

We are now to consider the directions for the discharge 
of this duty. 

The means which may be employed for the conversion 
of men are manifold. We, however, are proposing to limit 
attention to one, that of direct personal intercourse. As 
this is both the most important and the most difficult, it is 
proper that the instructions should be treated with care and 
precision. We will endeavor that they shall be such, as 
not only agree with the nature of the subject, but such as 
have the warrant of experience. 

In relation, then, to the conversion of sinners to God, I 
would say — 

1. Make it your business. Not your only business, but 
your chief. You have other occupations, but your highest 



BY PERSONAL EFFORT. 73 

profession is that of Christian. You seek to honor the 
claims which arise to you as a relative, and as a citizen ; 
do honor also to those which come on you as a Christian. 
When all things are held in subordination to Christian life, 
then even the temporal becomes holiness to the Lord. 
Consider that you are not born into this world only for 
worldly purposes ; far less are you regenerated into the 
kingdom of Christ to amass wealth, pursue honor, and live 
in earthly indulgence. No ; you are born into the family 
of God that you may be happy in his favor and live to his 
glory. How better can you follow the great end of your 
spiritual life, than by seeking to impart it to others ? Let 
the world, if it will, take its course, and pursue its vanities; 
it is no guide for you. You have an avocation higher, no- 
bler. You are to do the will of your Father in heaven. 
His will chiefly is, not that men should die in their sins, but 
that they should be saved. Adopt this as your will like- 
wise. Deliberately resolve that you will live for this pur- 
pose. You will then have what so many want, — an end 
in life ; and that end so elevated and benevolent as to be a 
constant spring of personal felicity. 

2. Possess your mind wdth the great importance of the 
subject. If it is to be your business, it must have your at- 
tention ; if your chief business, your chief attention. It 
must be present to your thoughts, it must dwell in your 
heart, till it is thoroughly and habitually realized. Place 
man before you as a sinner ; and judge of his sin by the 
light of Scripture. Look on him in his state of misery, de- 
lusion, and guilt ; separated from the life of angels ; in the 
hands of an angry God ; condemned already by a righteous 
law ; and upheld only from death and hell by the brittle 
thread of life, which a breath may break asunder ! 



74 ITS ADVANCEMENT. 

Let these plain, great, momentous truths have a full, 
but never a common place in your mind. Entertain them 
till they stand out as facts ; till his salvation is felt to be 
only next to your own. This living interest in the subject 
will supersede many directions ; and will give you a sur- 
prising aptitude and power in winning souls to Christ. 

3. Be sure to employ opportunities as they arise. That 
you may do so, watch for them. Those w^ho watch for 
them, seldom want them ; while those who are indifferent 
seldom or never find the right place, or the convenient 
time. " Watch for souls as one who must give an ac- 
count." 

Create opportunities. We are daily surprised by ob- 
serving what may be done if there is first the willing and 
resolved mind. What invention, what toil, what perse- 
verance, are displayed ! If a man is only resolved on 
making an acquaintance thought to be profitable to himself, 
will he not compass sea and land to effect it ? Recently a 
person came as a stranger to this metropolis ; he was soon 
observed, as such, by two evil-disposed men, accustomed to 
prowl on the innocent and unwary. It appeared that they 
watched every movement ; that they invented methods of 
approach to him ; that they followed him incessantly for 
two days and a night -, in fact, that they never left him till 
they had robbed him of all he possessed. Shall wicked- 
ness have all this policy and zeal to destroy, and will not 
you put forth your invention and energy to save ? Like 
your Saviour, if you would save the lost, you must seek 
them. 

Jisk for opportunities. If all events are at the disposal 
of Providence, and if the Lord knoweth them that are his, 
then it is most wise that we should recognise his hand. I 



BY PERSONAL EFFORT. 75 

know a Christian who is in the habit of committing this 
subject to his prayers, that God would so regulate his cir- 
cumstances, and form his connections and friendships, as 
that they may best supply him with occasions of usefulness 
in the conversion of sinners to himself. Nor has he prayed 
in vain. Opportunities arising in answer to prayer are, on 
every account, the most auspicious. 

4. Have special regard to those persons over whom you 
have special influence. In the most limited connections 
there are many such. Over some you have influence by 
relationship ; over some by interest ; over others by esteem 
for your character. You have power with them ; power, 
perhaps, which none other has. God has given it to you. 
Consider it as a precious talent intrusted to your care. Use 
it faithfully for their good, and for his glory, and God shall 
give you their life for a prey. 

5. Communicate, if possible, privately and alonej with 
those you would thus benefit. You will meet with less re- 
sistance ; you will be able to speak with more freedom, 
and they will soften sooner under what is said, than when 
other eyes are on them. Especially it will assist to justify 
your motives. Mostly those you address will at first resist 
the attempt, and they will look about for some plausible 
defence in so doing. Nothing is more important than that 
they should be compelled to allow to themselves, that you 
are not influenced by vanity or ostentation, or any sense of 
superiority, or any possible form of self-interest, but purely 
by a benevolent regard to their welfare. 

6. Mark differences of character. We do not refer to 
the nice shades of character ; this might be difficult, and 



76 ITS ADVANCEMENT 

you might think yourself excused from it. But all have 
some leading characteristic ; this lies on the surface of con- 
duct, and the slightest acquaintance reveals it. In some, 
levity predominates ; in some, thoughtfulness. Some are 
proud, and some are diffident. Some neglect religion, and 
some are slaves to its forms. Some are self-righteous, and 
some licentious. Some are in error, and some in ignorance. 
Some know much, but hold the truth in unrighteousness; 
and others know little, but live above their knowledge. 
It is plain, that to use exactly the same treatment for all 
would be unwise and injurious. Be at pains to know the 
character of the person you would restore to the way of 
life. " Of some have compassion, and others save with 
fear, plucking them out of the fire." 

Yet if you should not be always able to satisfy yourself 
in this particular, be not discouraged. After all, the points 
of difference between sinner and sinner are slight, compared 
with those on which they essentially agree. All are alien- 
ated from the life of God, and are given over to a worldly 
idolatry ; and all are required to be recovered to the love 
and favor of God. You cannot be materially wrong, while 
dealing earnestly with these two capital circumstances, and 
if there be any particular obstacles, they are of less magni- 
tude, and shall reveal themselves to you. 

7. Present distinctly the truth as it is in Jesus, and in 
the New Testament, to the mind. Settle it in your heart, 
that the truth is your only legitimate instrument, that all 
feeling not produced by it is spurious and dangerous ; that 
it alone can convert and sanctify the sinner ; and that if 
you honor it, the Spirit, its author, will honor you. 

Present the truth in its simplicity, without subtle dis- 
tinctions, and without controversy. In speaking of it, as- 



BY PERSONAL EFFORT. 77 

sume that it will be admitted as the truth of God. If im- 
portant truth is disputed, still do not generally run into dis- 
putation. In most cases it is used as a diversion, and you 
must not be diverted. Go at once to such truths as are 
undisputed; you will find that the most skeptical still hold 
truth enough for their utter condemnation. Work this 
allowed portion of truth into the conscience, and it will 
clear the way for the rest. He believes himself a sinner ; 
does he repent of sin 1 He admits there is a God ; does 
he worship, love, and trust him as God ? He allows a 
life to come ; does he make this short life a preparation for 
that immortality ? 

If the truth remains undisputed, then explain and apply 
it in strict relation to your object — his conversion. Place 
conversion before him as one great decisive act of the mind — 
the volition, the heart — that by this act the sinner renounces 
the world, its honors and its pleasures, as his supreme good ; 
and embraces, with the preference of conviction and affection, 
the love, service, and favor of God as his portion for ever. 

As conversion comprehends repentance and faith, you 
may illustrate the one by the othei', till distinct ideas are 
received on the subject. Show repentance to be a right 
state of mind in relation to sin ; that sin is seen to be as 
" exceeding sinful," as opposed to the Divine government, 
and as bringing ruin on ourselves ; and that when thus seen 
it produces sorrow towards God, and constrains us to for- 
sake and avoid it as the " abominable thing." 

Explain, that while this is a right state of mind, there 
is in it nothing meritorious ; that still he is guilty and still 
deserves punishment ; that there can be no remission of sin 
and death without an atonement. Show that this atone- 
ment is in Christ — that it is for the chief of sinners — that it 



78 ITS ADVANCEMENT 

is adequate and all-sufficient — so that God can be just, 
and yet accept and justify the sinner. 

Show that so soon as the doctrine of righteousness and 
life is known, it should accepted by a cordial faith. That 
it is the office of faith to perceive it, to embrace it, to re- 
joice in it, and to live and act under its influence. Urge 
him to a "present act of faith, in the name and grace of 
Christ. Let him know that he is invited, that he is com- 
manded to this ; that there is nohinderancebut in himself; 
that to refuse is to rebel. If he sweetly yields to the truth, 
refer it to that hand which makes us willing in the day of 
its power. If he resist, quibble and rebel, use it to unfold 
to him the wickedness and wilfulness of his heart, and 
throw on him the whole weight of his responsibility. Let 
him not refine on questions of Divine sovereignty and free 
■will ; this is mere trifling. He may have imbibed false 
notions on them, but these are artificial and superficial ; 
beneath them lies the deep consciousness which he cannot 
disturb, that he acts freely, and that he is fully responsible 
for his actions. Shut him up to the conviction, that if he 
is lost, he destroys himself; that if saved, he is saved by the 
might and mercy of Christ. 

Surround him with motive. Speak to him of himself — 
of his capacities to know, to love, to enjoy— of the hfe to 
come, and of his immortahty. Speak to him of God as a 
Father — lamenting his departure from his presence — invit- 
ing him to return — spreading his arms to receive him in 
anticipation of his return — rejoicing over the erring child 
that was lost and is found. Speak to him of Jesus, who 
dwelt in heaven, but who came to earth " to seek and to 
save that which was lost." Tell him of his poverty and his 
tears; of his life and his death ; and assure him it was all 



BY PERSONAL EFFORT. 79 

for our sake. Tell him of his pity, his power, his love ; 
and repeat his own gracious invitations to him till they melt 
on his ear, and sink into his heart. Speak to him of the 
grace of the Holy Spirit — that it is only made necessary 
by his perversity and unbelief — that it is sufficient for our 
renewal in holiness — that it is now not a sovereign bestow- 
ment for which we are to wait in doubt, but a promised 
blessing which we are at once to ask, under the assurance 
that we shall receive. The Spirit says, " Come." We do 
not wait for the Spirit ; the Spirit waits for the dilatory sinner. 
Whatever particularly seems to get nearest the heart, 
enlarge on it — urge it — as though your own life were in 
it ; and endeavor that the sinner shall be brought to re- 
nounce his reluctance and delays, and to lie down, as one 
ready to perish, on the truth and mercy of the Saviour. 

8. Bring the sinner to a pause. 

If you think you have succeeded to any amount, be 
careful of your means. The fear is, that when you leave 
him, one half of the impression will vanish. Induce him 
to regard^ it as a crisis in his life ; that if he does not de- 
cide for God he will be confirmed in sin. Entreat him to 
pause — to retire — to entertain the subject with considera- 
tion. Salvation is impossible without consideration. A 
day or two might be redeemed from business, to dispose of 
this greatest of subjects. A more favorable time will 
never occur. W^hether he gives more or less of attention 
and retirement, he should not relax till he is decided. De- 
cide now. Indecision is sin. 

Should opportunity permit, offer to pray loith him. If 
an impression is made, he will thankfully accept it. Let 
not your prayer be general, but suit the occasion. It should 
spring from what has been said, and what felt. Es- 



80 ITS ADVANCEMENT 

pecially enlarge with tenderness on what has most affect- 
ed you or him in utterance. Much will depend on the 
spirit of that prayer. Many a sinner has submitted in 
prayer ; but feeble prayer, at such a time, hardens the 
heart. 

If you cannot pray with him, pray ybr him. The char- 
acter of your engagement supposes this spirit to be awake 
w^ithin you. Through all your address, and in all its dis- 
couragements, your silent prayer should be rising to God 
without whom you entreat in vain. In retirement you 
should make memoranda of such cases as interest you, and 
separately and solemnly commend their peculiarities to the 
eye of Him you serve and would glorify. 

If happily you are conscious of having made a just and 
salutary impression, then be careful not to injure or weaken 
it before you separate. Beware, at such a time, of sink- 
ing down to ordinary topics and innocent pleasantries. 
Speak not of other subjects. Retire, and induce him to 
retire. Leave him with that solemn and affectionate man- 
ner which springs from feeling aright, and which is so like- 
ly to administer grace to the observer. I have seen the 
most promising effects withered at once by three minutes' 
light or ill-timed conversation. 

9. Let the spirit of your intercourse be eminently 
Christian. To be so, you must watch against formality. 
Those who give themselves to prayer and speech on reli- 
gious subjects, frequently settle down into certain modes 
of expression, from which the living meaning is nearly de- 
parted. Such persons may be busy, but they effect little. 
If words are to convey life, they must be vital. 

Your intercourse should be characterized by fidelity. 
Nothing can be more important. You profess to speak to 



BY PERSONAL EFFORT. 81 

Others on their dearest interests ; you are aware they are 
mostly reluctant to know the truth ; you can hardly be said 
in any sense to engage in such service without the resolu- 
tion to be faithful. Yet here many are deficient. They 
want courage for the occasion, or they want a living con- 
viction of the truths they should utter. They cannot give 
pain ; they cannot be directed ; they deal in hint and im- 
plication, but not in assertion ; they go about and about the 
subject, but they do not speak of the subject, and to the 
person. Such individuals flatter themselves that this course 
springs from kindness of heart. There may be much kind 
feeling mixed up wdth such conduct, but is it right ? Is it 
kindness on the whole 7 If the evil we purposed to cure 
is uncured because we have treated it with too gentle and 
trembling a hand, should we flatter ourselves on our kind- 
ness, or blame ourselves for unfaithfulness ? 

The service to which we give ourselves requires, if any 
thing, a firm hand and a truthful tongue. We owe some- 
thing to delicacy, but much more to the salvation of our 
friend. We must be willing to give pain, if we may bring 
peace. Even the hopes and consolations of the gospel 
must be so used as not to diminish but to increase conviction 
of sin, and the humiliation of the spirit before God. Be 
direct ; be personal ; be earnest ! You must be free of 
the sinner's blood. You must utter the truth, whether he 
hear or forbear. 

Your intercourse should be characterized by meekness, 
" the meekness of wisdom," as Scripture beautifully express- 
es it. I greatly admire prudence ; here it is eminently ne- 
cessary. Yet there is a fear that it may be misapplied. It 
has often been another name for false shame and selfish 
negligence. By all means be wise — wise to observe char- 
acter, to mark occasion, and to adapt means to their end ; 

5 



82 ITS ADVANCEMENT 

but decline the wisdom which is always waiting for some 
better occasion, which fixes its eye on the difficulty, but 
forgets the extremity of the sinner. 

Meekness springs from trus wisdom, and it is indispen- 
sable to you. Without it, fidelity would become severity ; 
but severity would harden the heart. Many have labored 
hard and faithfully without profit, when the gentleness of 
Christ might have made them great. You need the meek- 
ness which is without assumption ; which is gentle in man- 
ner and even in tone ; which cannot be irritated or pro- 
voked ; which is always prepared to render good for evil. 
In such meekness there is might. 

An excellent minister in America, referring to his con- 
version, said, " When I was yet a young and thoughtless 
man, a pious deacon addressed me about my salvation. I 
was angry ; my heart rose in bitterness against him. I 
reproached him ; pointed out the inconsistencies of profes- 
sors ; talked indeed like a madman, while my conscience 
was grinding me like a millstone. He bore it all with 
meekness perfectly unmoved. If he had only given one 
retort, shown one angry feeling, it would have relieved me. . 
His Christian meekness was too much for me. I went into 
the wood smarting from my wounds, fell under what he 
had said to me, and went and asked his pardon." This 
was the time of his conversion ; and he owed it instru- 
mentally to the Christian temper of his friend. Wisdom is 
mighty, meekness is mighty ; but the meekness of wisdom 
is almighty. 

Your intercourse should be full of the spirit of love. 
This must be a predominant motive. It must be so present, 
as to be seen and felt. The love which rules, which con- 
strains, which is the parent of holy devoted zeal. To it 
the thing to be done, is the thing that must be done, done 



BY PERSONAL EFFORT. 83 

now if possible, done thus if possible ; but at all events 
done. 

This love hath tenderness : and the tenderness of love 
is of all things most subduing. The sinner you would save 
is the sinner you must love. You must surround him with 
your love. It must beam over a countenance troubled for 
his salvation. It will give its unction to your actions, 
words and intonations. You will feel with him, weep with 
him, be one with him. He will find himself in an element 
of love, and will be dissolved by its power. 

Finally, your spirit should be that of prayer. We 
have referred to it in a particular instance ; but it must be 
an abiding and prevailing spirit. Prayer is not to super- 
sede action ; it is to suggest it, sustain it, and sanctify it. 
The work you would accomplish is above your power ; 
the very subject on which you would operate is totally 
averse ; and your single warrant and encouragement is 
found in the promise of God. You must know your weak- 
ness ; confess your dependence ; wait, pray and wrestle. 
You must do the utmost, and then rest on the promise and 
truth of God. When you are weak, then you are strong. 
The man of prayer is the man of power. He is strong in 
the might of God. 

10. Let all you do be sustained by your Christian char- 
acter. There should be no doubt about it. It should be 
unblamable and without reproach. As you would live a 
useful life, jealously watch inconsistency, and place no 
stone of stumbling in the way of your brother. Shun the 
world, its fashions, its maxims, its indulgences, its very 
spirit. Aspire to a high, holy, and happy exemplification 
of Christian life. This is indispensable if you would have 
a right temper j and equally so, if you would produce a 



84 ITS ADVANCEMENT 

right impression. We all know what is meant by weight 
of character ; and it is this, in its Christian form, that we 
need for usefulness. " sir," exclaimed a dying penitent, 
of a person who had visited him with profit — " That man 
is a saint ; I never met with such a man ! It is impossible 
not to be affected by his kindness and his prayers !" Now 
that his labors are ended, I can also say, That man was a 
saint indeed ! 

Whatever be the present issue of your labors, look well 
to it that this be the impression of your religious conduct. 

11. If you should still think, that there are difficulties 
in your \vay, begin immediately. This is the only course. 
Many, declining to take it, have trifled through life, and 
left no trace of good behind them. He who says, " There 
is a lion in the way," will be sure to find one. Difficulties 
grow by delay ; as you advance on them in the path of 
duty, they will mostly, like shadows, vanish before you. 
Let there be only the sincere desire to improve the present 
talent and occasion, and what more you need, " God shall 
reveal even this unto you." 

Say not, that you have no talent. All have some. It 
does not need much talent or great knowledge. It needs 
only common sense and earnest piety. The lowest and the 
least can speak freely of the things they love, and with 
which they are conversant. What mother but can dis- 
course about her children ? W^hat mechanic but can talk 
reasonably and well about his trade ? If religion is to you 
a subject of interest — that which you have seen and handled 
and tasted — you have talent enough to make it known to 
others. If you pray, you can tell what prayer is. If you 
have mourned for sin, you can tell of its bitterness. If you 
are converted, you can explain what it is to the uacon- 



BY PERSONAL EFFORT.. 85 

verted. If you love the Saviour, you can make others un- 
derstand that He is worthy of their love. Oh, if there be 
first the willing mind, and the gracious heart, you have all 
that is needful for this labor of love ! 

Say not that you have no confidence ; that is offering 
an excuse where you should confess a sin. Want of con- 
fidence is want of fidelity to Christ and love to men. You 
may have naturally much diffidence and a retiring disposi- 
tion ; and this will claim to show itself in ordinary circum- 
stances. But who ever thought of pleading it in a case of 
extremity ? If your neighbor was threatened with some 
fatal calamity, would your want of confidence prevent your 
giving the alarm which was to save his life ? Would na- 
tural diffidence have any power at such a moment ? Say 
not, then, I am a child, and cannot speak ! You must 
speak or be confounded ! Extremity has compelled the 
dumb to speak. Yours is that extremity. You must not 
allow sin on your brother ! You must not be ashamed of 
Christ, unless you w^ould that he should be ashamed of you 
before his Father and his holy angels. 

Say not, that you have no time. By good economy 
all may find time. The busiest and the poorest do actually 
find time for the merest vanities. All have the Sabbath, 
and that is time to be sanctified by holy use. Besides this, 
all may find time, and many much time for religious uses. 
I fully believe that, by a wise arrangement and firm re- 
solves, very many Christians might, apart from the Sab- 
bath, devote one day in a week to spiritual claims, without 
temporal loss, and with much religious profit. Remember, 
all time stands related to eternity ; and in the use of it you 
should preserve this relation unbroken. 

Say not, that you w^ant influence. You have it. You 
must dwell in the desert, silent and alone, not to have it. 



*. 



86 ITS ADVANCEMENT 

You have more than you think. Ah ! you complain of the 
want of it : consider whether some may not complain of 
your evil use of it 1 Are there none the worse for you ? 
Want influence ! You have too much, if it is not to be 
used for good. Correct yourself on this subject, and hold 
what you have as a steward for God. All possess this in- 
valuable talent, and generally beyond what they admit. I 
have known a child of fourteen bring, by his persuasions, 
nine other persons to worship on a special occasion. I 
have known a child of seven, the instrument of converting 
one parent, and of bringing both under the means of grace. 
I have known a Christian woman, a poor widow, unusually 
deaf, the means of introducing seven or eight persons to the 
fellowship of the church ! Who, then, shall deem himself 
exonerated from such service, disqualified for such pleasure ! 
Again, we say, if any difficulty still remains, begin at 
once. 



III. 



Let us now glance at the motives which should animate 
us in the discharge of this duty. 

1. That it is a duty we have already seen ; and this 
consideration, to a rectified mind, will itself constitute a 
motive. The will of God is the highest reason of conduct 
to an intelligent creature. Though the service should 
bring with it no pleasure ; though it should be a source of 
continued pain and mortification ; it should be enough that 
it is the will of God. Let no other consideration disturb 
the supremacy of this in your conscience. 

2. Consider that it is a means of grace to yourself. 



BY PERSONAL EFFORT. 87 

God has condescended to make it so. In every thing He 
has linked our profit and our duty together ; so that we 
cannot serve him or our fellow-men without advantage. 
When Job prayed for his friends, his captivity was broken. 
While you lingerj hesitate, and do no good to others, no 
good comes to you. If you would prove that you have 
spiritual life, do it by action. If you would improve the 
evidence and power of that life, still do it by action. If 
you would have the truth appear to you in greater clear- 
ness, endeavor to make it plain to others. If you would 
dissipate your doubts and anxieties, plunge not into subtle 
questions, but be up and active at your Saviour's bidding, 
and you shall know your love to God and to your brother 
also. If you ask me once and again. What is the best evi- 
dence and the surest nourisher of life ? my answer still is, 
Action, action — holy and benevolent action ! Exercise is 
at once the cure and the preventive of a thousand religious 
ailments. 

3. Consider your obligations. These are to the amount 
of your receipts ; who then shall enumerate them ? All 
that you possess you have received j and all that you have 
received, you are freely to bestow. It were a robbery to 
retain what is given us to ourselves. No creature is made 
for itself. The sun shines for others; nature is made for 
man ; and man is made for God. Your talents are for 
others, and not for yourself. Your privileges are for 
others, and not merely for yourself. You lose what you 
selfishly keep ; you multiply the treasure you generously 
bestow. You have been privileged to hear the blessed 
tidings from heaven of pardon, peace and life ; and by that 
very circumstance you are bound to make it known to 
others. " Let him that heareth say, Come !" 



8s ITS ADVANCEMENT 

4. Consider your negligences. Perhaps this great sub- 
ject has never yet had that measure of attention which you 
are now giving to it. How much of life is gone ! "What 
opportunities of usefulness have been lost ! How often you 
have been silent when you might have spoken ! How 
much you might have done which you have left undone ! 
How many you might have benefited w-hom you have 
neglected ! and of these, how many are now placed beyond 
your reach ! They were once near you, they looked up to 
you, you had great power over them ; but they lived and 
died without warning and without hope ! Once a son, on 
the couch of death, sent for his father, and fixing his eyes 
on him, said, " I am dying — I am lost — and I am lost 
through you !" There was agony ! No one, perhaps, 
wrung by despair, has thus torn your soul ; but does con- 
science refer you to no child, no friend, no neighbor, who, 
if not restrained from regard to your feelings, might so 
have uttered himself? 

How little time remains to you ! The past cannot be 
recovered. The dead cannot live over again, that you may 
show yourself more faithful and kind to them. But there 
are the living ; thy child, thy friend, thy brother, thy neigh- 
bor. Shall they also perish, and you raise no warning 
voice, and stretch forth no helping hand ? Rather let 
your right hand forget its operation and your tongue cleave 
to the roof of your mouth I 

5. Consider the misery of man, of all men, in an un- 
renewed state. You know it, for you have ie\i it. Call 
it to mind ; let it be present to you in vivid recollection as 
an unwearied motive of action. In life what misery ! 
His mind darkened, his will perverted, his passions disor- 
dered, and conscience preying like a vulture on the false 



BY PERSONAL EFFORT. 89 

peace he would bring to himself! To him, poor child of 
folly and of sin, life is without a reason, events without a 
providence, and the universe without a God ! Will you 
not pity him ? Are you a man ? is he not your brother 1 
Do you not know the wormwood and the gall, the bitter- 
ness and the guilt of his condition 1 Will you not pity 
him? 

Look on him again ! In death, what misery ! He 
has, hke yourself, a soul, conscious, immortal, of vast capa- 
cities for bliss or wo ; but for that soul he has made no 
provision. He dies ; that is, his hope dies, his illusions die, 
his peace is annihilated ; but he exists and cannot die. 
He is forced into an eternity which he should have made 
his home and his inheritance. Nothing is now between 
himself and God — the God he has neglected and^despised ! 
He is confounded to find himself in his presence. All the 
truth breaks on him. He shrinks to see himself undone ; 
sinks down and away from the insufferable glory into dark- 
ness, deep, unfathomable, where is weeping, wailing, and 
gnashing of teeth ! Oh ! wretched, wretched sight ! A 
lost universe were less calamitous than a lost soul ! 

Will you not make haste to save one ? Have you, even 
now, any in particular, that you are seeking to shield from 
the wrath to come ? 

5. Consider the blessedness of success. This is so great 
as to be difficult to appreciate or explain. Yet it is to be 
regarded, dwelt on, and made a motive to earnest exertion. 
" He that converteth a sinner from the error of his ways, 
let him know that he saveth a soul from death, and pre- 
venteth a multitude of sins." Let him know this ; let him 
ponder it; let him ask himself what it is to save a soul — 
to save a soul from death, everlasting death — and if he has 

5* 



90 ITS ADVANCEMENT 

labored to this issue, let him take the blessed consciousness 
and satisfaction to himself. 

You have perhaps been the favored instrument of sav- 
ing a fellow being from temporal death. Can you make 
the mind, which cares only for itself, understand your 
felicity ? 

I once looked on a veteran seaman, who, by his heroic 
courage, was supposed to have saved upwards of one hun- 
dred hves on the Goodwin Sands. When the circumstance 
was referred to, he attempted not to explain his joy ; but a 
calm and complacent pleasure beamed over his fine coun- 
tenance, and assured you that he was conscious of having 
lived for a great and noble purpose. 

You have read of Harlan Page. What must have been 
his humble gratitude and joy, when on the bed of death, 
though his life was short, and himself a private Christian, 
he could say, — " I trust, through the blessing of God, I 
have been the means of saving not less than one hundred 
souls !" 

Oh ! know the bliss of blessing others, and not merely for 
this life, but for ever ! Let the thoughtless multitude seek 
their bliss in wealth, in fame, in ease, in appetite, in the world 
and in themselves : but, do you obey your noble vocation. 
Find a bliss they shall never know, in laboring for the sal- 
vation of your fellow-men, and the glory of your common 
Saviour ! Resolve, by the grace of God, not to go to hea- 
ven alone. Think little of your personal bliss, and much 
of that bliss and honor which shall accrue to the Redeemer, 
by causing him to see of the travail of his soul, and you 
shall be happy indeed. 

6. Finally, consider the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. 
You know it, but consider it. His one great purpose was 



BY PERSONAL EFFORT. 91 

" to seek and to save them that are lost." This filled his 
whole mind and spirit. He must fulfil it at all expense, at 
all hazard. He could not be happy with this unaccom- 
plished. For this He came down from heaven, and, being 
God, became man to save man. For this he lived through 
life in poverty, ignominy, and sorrow 3 and for this He died 
the death of agony which none other could die. For this 
He still lives in glory ; and to this He is making all things 
in nature and providence contributory. 

Oh ! dwell at the feet of your Saviour. Think of His 
love and His grace ; His tears, and His triumphs. Have 
fellowship with His sufferings, and be made conformable to 
His death. Let the very mind that is in Him be also [in 
you. Let what is little to Him be trivial to you. Let what 
is great to Him be great to you. Live His life. Gather 
in the lost to His fold. Participate His joy, in the kingdom 
of His Father, and your Father. 

Connect habitually the salvation of the individual sinner 
with the accumulated and glorious results of the Great 
Redemption. That one sinner whom you save is indispen- 
sable to the perfection of the whole family of the redeemed ! 
This thought shall bring you to participate in the joy which 
springs from its perfected numbers and endless fehcity ! 



LECTURE IV. 

THE ADVANCEMENT OF RELIGION 
IN THE FAMILY. 



LECITURE IV. 

ITS ADVANCEMENT IN THE FAMILY. 

'* Let thy work appear unto thy servants, and thy glory unto 
their children,''^ 

In the last Lecture we have treated of the advancement 
of religion by personal effort. As this is the duty of every 
Christian, so it must be equally evident that, in endeavoring 
conscientiously to fulfil it, he should begin with his own 
household. 

A family is an admirable specimen of social economy. 
It is the best form, having of course respect to the members 
which compose it, in which it can be presented. It sup- 
plies us with an instance of authority tempered by love, 
and of love sustained by authority ; which, if it could be 
realized on a larger scale, would go far to secure the peace 
of the world and the happiness of men. 

It is the original form. It is essential to all, and the 
germ of all. Several families make the village ; and a 
multitude of families constitute the town, the city, the nation. 
A family is admirable as a specimen of religious economy. 
It is meant for this, and not merely for civil uses. It is an 
institution of the Father of all, in which He is to be recog- 
nised, and through which he is to be glorified. It is com- 
posed of rational and immortal beings ; it is to contemplate 
their spiritual and lasting welfare ; and it is to be regarded 
as a state of preparation for eternity. 

Under this aspect we are now to observe it. It is as- 



96 ITS ADVANCEMENT 

sumed that the claims of religion are generally admitted ; 
that in your families you do acknowledge God, and desire 
to walk in his ways. It would be intolerable to you to be 
part of a family in which no worship was offered to him, 
and no blessing sought from his hand. Rejoicing, then, 
that religion dwells and is honored in your habitation, it is 
for us to treat of its advancement in your household as the 
great means of advancing religious prosperity. 

Can you think the subject unnecessary ? Does religion 
dwell with you in such vitality and power as to leave you 
nothing to desire ? Is God so worshipped, loved, and hon- 
ored by you and yours, as to "place you above the need 
either of counsel or exhortation ? When, in apostolic 
times, a family could receive the high compellation of " the 
church in thy house," what did it not imply of love, piety, 
and Christian fellowship 1 Would'it not be a bitter sarcasm, 
if applied to most religious families ? Do you feel that it 
could be appropriate if applied to yours 1 Would it not 
convey censure rather than praise ? 

I ask, then, your candid consideration of this important 
subject. Willingly come under a just sense of deficiency ; 
and prayerfully crave for your beloved household an ad- 
vancement in knowledge, righteousness, and true holiness. 

Let us have respect to the Method in which we may 
look for this advancement ; and then to the Inducements 
disposing us to it. 



I. The Method, 

In speaking of a family, if we chiefly refer to the con- 
nection of parent and child, it is for the sake of greater 
simplicity. We are far from meaning to exclude the do- 



IN THE FAMILY. ,97 

mestics. They have their claims, some in common aiid 
some peculiar. But there is no fear of culpable deficiency 
towards them, if we can only secure right feeling and con- 
duct in the first relationship. The Christian who religious- 
ly regards his child, cannot despise the claim of his ser- 
vant. 

In a family, the most intimate ties are between the 
parents; and they participate in a common responsibility. 
It is therefore of the first importance that they should come 
to a full understanding, and should earnestly seek the im- 
provement of mutual piety. Especially they should be 
one ; one in love, one in confidence, one in co-operation ; 
most of all, in co-operation. At no time, under no circum- 
stances, should it be felt by the family that they W'ere di- 
vided in opinion or feeling. No separate excellence could 
atone for so serious an evil. It woukl neutrahze their au- 
thority ; it would hinder their prayers ; and it would tempt 
their children and domestics to play off one parent against 
the other. They must place themselves above the whis- 
pers of vanity and partiality ; they must yield something 
to each other, rather than present a divided authority to 
those who should respect it. They must be one in mind, 
one in purpose, one in effort ; so that the action and presence 
of one may always have the vi^eight and authority of both. 
Blessed are the parents who are so united to bless their 
households. 

Much has been said, in this connection, of maternal in- 
fluence, and chiefly to its praise. We most cheerfully con- 
cur in that praise ; but we must not forget that there are 
other lights in which it may be profitably contemplated. 
The fact is, that in the economy of a family maternal in- 
fluence is necessarily the most powerful. It Js the most 
present, the most insinuating, and the most operative j and, 



98 ITS ADVANCEMENT 

over the early periods of life especially, it is paramount, 
and^ almost alone. It is meant to be so by the gracious 
Father of us all. Of course this influence is mighty alike 
for good or for harm. 

We have properly rejoiced over its salutary power a 
thousand times, without perhaps marking sufficiently it:* 
sinister operations. These, however, are very fearful, and 
not infrequent. A family is almost certain to go wrong, 
if the mother leads the way. I have mourned over many 
a family restrained from the profession of religion by ma- 
ternal influence, and at last scattered and lost in worldly 
connections. I have now before my mind a large and fine 
family rising up to maturity. The father follows a pro- 
fession, and has few opportunities of intercourse, except 
for occasional recreation. The mother is ever with her 
children, but she is worldly in her temper and desires. 
The father is pious, anxious, prayerful ; but his beloved 
children, one after the other, give themselves to the w^orld ; 
and so his hopes wither, and his spirit is broken. What 
wonder that this should happen ! What grief that iit 
should come from a parent — a mother ! What child shall 
overcome the temptations of this world, who is allured 
towards them by the persuasive voice and leading hand of 
a beloved mother ! 

1. To give some order to our remarks, let it be fully 
admitted, that the advancement of religion in the family 
must spring from improved personal piety. This is indeed 
a distinct consideration, but it is also relative and indispen- 
sable. We have treated of it separately ; yet it requires to 
be uniformly present to our thoughts. 

A family should be habitually regarded as a smaller 
church. Our relationships should be held from God, and 



IN THE FAMILY. 99 

for his glory. Though they exist for temporal uses, it 
should be felt that these are to be subordinate to such as 
are spiritual and eternal. Virtually, the connections of 
parent and child, master and servant, run into eternity ; and 
they will be an occasion of eternal delight or eternal an- 
guish. 

Those who sustain authority in the family should live 
under these convictions. They should feel that to their 
families they are the representatives of the heavenly Fa- 
ther ; that they have the charge of souls -, and that their 
first object should be their salvation. To advance religion 
in their beloved circle, they should seek its advancement 
in themselves. Because they hold such important and 
happy relationships, they should stand nearer to God in 
daily fellowship, and covet more earnestly the communica- 
tion of all spiritual good. This growing, ardent desire 
after improved personal piety makes all the difference be- 
tween the form of religion and the power, the letter and 
the spirit ; and our preparedness or unpreparedness to 
bless our household. The letter killeth, but the spirit 
giveth life. 

2. Improved instruction may contribute to the advance- 
ment of religion. Happily this is a day of education ; so 
that the subject is familiar to the thoughts of men. As 
might be expected, general inquiry has given birth to many 
theories and methods, some of them sufficiently artificial 
and empirical. The administration, however, is not, in its 
mode, complex or difficult. The great end of 'education 
may be missed or attained in the use of the same method ; 
and whatever the detail, it shall approach in result near to 
perfection if but one rule predominate : always to speak to 
the understanding and the heart rather than to the memory. 



100 ITS ADVANCEMENT 

This particularly applies to education as we have now 
to consider it. It is moral, it is religious ; and is to be 
administered in the bosom of a family. The more simple 
the method the wiser and the better. On the character of 
it, I would say, let it be more scriptural. Religion is what 
you propose to teach ; but religion in its pure and perfect 
form is only found in the sacred Scriptures. The Bible, 
therefore, must be your text book and authority. If other 
books are used, they must be held as subsidiary to it. You 
should approach it with deference ; and those you instruct 
should at once feel, that you regard it as distinct from every 
other book ; as separate as the divine from the human. 
Use it not as a book of tasks, but as a book of life. Over- 
load not the memory with its contents ; but awaken to- 
wards them the reverence, the expectation, the love of the 
pupil. Deal most with the truth in which is bound up our 
salvation. Speak of life as lost by man ; of life as restor- 
ed by Jesus Christ ; of life as abounding in immortality by 
the Gospel. Treat it as news, news from heaven. Show 
that you expect it should be at once received with great 
joy. Leave it on the mind as the word of God ; and that 
it is an offence not against your authority, but His, if it is 
rejected. 

Let it be more affectionate. Be not content to impart 
a measure of religious instruction from a cold sense of duty, 
it will languish on your lips if you do. Your theme is 
love, heavenly lovej you address the special objects of 
your love ; when should your heart glow and your lips be 
ruled by the law of kindness if not at such a time 1 What- 
ever you want, at least bring your heart to it. Your doc- 
trine shall then drop as the rain on the tender herb, and 
distil as the dew. The mind is open to manifold influen- 
ces, but nothing works like love -, and there is nothing of 



IN THE FAMILY. 101 

which the young especially are more conscious than the pre- 
sence or absence of affection. A little girl once said to 
her father as she sat on his knee, " Papa, pray with me as 
my mamma does." He was not used to free prayer, and 
was yet unwilling to refuse his child. He took a book, 
and they knelt down and read a prayer. When they arose 
the child looked in her father's face and said, " Papa ! you 
didn't pray for the dear little girl, as mamma does." She 
was conscious of the want of a tone and manner which had 
often gone to her heart. 

Let it be more frequent. Too often, even in religious 
families, these engagements are made to wait on more cla- 
morous, but less important claims. They should riot usu- 
ally be put aside ; they should never be hurried over ; but 
they should be approached with that respect and ^pleasure 
which will give a just impression of their character. When 
the periods of religious intercourse are the last considered ; 
when a preference is readily given to inferior things ; 
when an excuse is not only made, but, perhaps, invented 
for neglecting them ; must there not be any thing rather 
than a favorable impression 1 On the contrary, if ' the 
opportunities of a family are really few and brief, while 
they are eagerly embraced and a real pleasure is shown in 
seizing such as unexpectedly occur, the best results will 
follow. 

Let it be more earnest. All teachers are liable to be- 
come mechanical. This is bad in every case ; but it is 
fatal in religious teaching. It is nothing if it is not earn- 
est. W^atch, then, against formality. Connect with the 
detail, great and momentous considerations. Place the 
state of your child distinctly before you, not in the lights of 
your own partiality, but in those of sacred Scripture. Feel 
for it — be in anguish for it — let nothing satisfy you but its 



102 ITS ADVANCEMENT 

salvation. Look' at once for decisive results. Be not sat- 
isfied with mere hopeful appearances. They are all illu- 
sive while the heart is unchanged. Nothing is done till 
the soul is converted to God. Seek this not at sixteen or 
seventeen years ; but much earlier. A parent once replied 
to some remonstrances, that he did not expect a child to 
be decidedly religious till he was sixteen. He has waited 
till that period ; and his son is gone wholly into the world 
What wonder ? If the father could delay a matter of such 
importance for so long a period, might not the child also 
postpone it for a time ? I should tremble to have a child 
rising into youth without professing religion ; every day 
would diminish the likelihood of his making profession at 
all. If a servant shall be three months in a religious 
family without receiving a serious character, the probabi- 
lity is that none will be produced. First impressions are 
the strongest, and to resist these hardens the heart. Look 
for fruit at once. 

Take care that your earnestness be 'prayerful. That 
is its proper temper. If not so, it will be anxious, irritable, 
severe. Prayer will assist you at once to work and to wait, 
Every effort for your family will be sustained by breathing 
desires towards heaven. You will not be tempted to teaze 
a child into religion ; while you will always be ready to use 
the favorable occasion. You will lean on God, and pre- 
serve your equanimity. Too many parents, who think that 
they do so, really fail in this particular. Their faith is in 
their relationship, their influence, their authority, rather than 
completely in God. They expect these to secure attention 
— perhaps conversion — and are disposed to resent it per- 
sonally if disappointed. Settle it as a maxim, that though 
the object of your solicitude is a relative, a child, nothing 
whatever will win his heart to the Saviour but the grace of 



IN THE FAMILY. 103 

God. Let your faith be strong, and your prayers will be 
strong. You will pray for and with the objects of your 
care. Prayer will inspire all your teachings. You will 
rest in prayer. 

3. Improved devotion will contribute to the advancement 
of religion. 

It is taken for granted that you observe domestic wor- 
ship. A family cannot be considered religious without it. 
But is it what it ought to be 1 Is it not often so hurried as 
to exclude all composure 1 Is it not so short, as not even 
to interrupt the stream of worldly thought and domestic 
care running through the mind ; and though not constrain- 
ed by printed forms, is it not, in fact, often so formal as to 
have nothing of the power and joy of life 1 Have you not 
sometimes a painful consciousness that the effect, as a whole, 
is rather bad than beneficial ? Certainly we have known 
it so used, as that it were more honored in the breach than 
the observance. However, the cure is not in neglect, but 
in amendment. 

It may contribute to the proposed end if you endeavor 
to give a distinct and sacred character to every religious 
engagement. The less it is in itself the more it needs this 
protection. From want of this, a [grace before meals is 
often a most graceless thing. It is frequently finished before 
half the family are aware it is begun. The mere act of 
standing will assist in securing decorum, and calling up 
attention to this appropriate exercise of prayer and 
thanksgiving. 

In the morning and evening devotions look to the same 
result by similar means '* they may seem trivial, but to 

* Where, for instance, the same room is used for worship and 
meals, the simple rule always to have the table cleared, will work 
beneficially. 



104 ITS ADVANCEMENT 

those who best know our nature they are important. Ap- 
proach the exercise with solemn pleasure. Read the sa- 
cred Scripture as indeed the very word of God, and of 
eternal life. Let the prayers spring from the present wants 
and mercies of the family, and be sustained more or less 
by the sentiments suggested by the word of truth. If pos- 
sible sing. It is a dehghtful exercise ; it is most interest- 
ing to the young ; it is the natural expression of cheerful 
piety. It has mostly prevailed in our families as a living 
and healthful form of religion has prevailed. Its general 
abandonment in our time is an unfavorable indication ; and 
when piety shall revive amongst us, again shall be heard 
the voice of solemn gateful praise in the tabernacles of the 
righteous. 

4. Carefully improve the Lord's day. It is nearly all 
the time which most families can fully command ; and it is 
invaluable. Honor it, welcome its approach, rejoice and be 
glad in it. Let every member of your family feel that it 
is the happiest time that passes over you. 

Use it Tor strictly spiritual purposes. Show [that you 
regard it as precious time, set apart for the benefit of the 
soul, and preparation for the blessed life which is to come, 
be covetous of its improvement. Prepare for it. Disen- 
gage it as much as possible not only from worldly business, 
but domestic care. Provide not for the flesh, but for the 
spirit ; and thus train those about you to think of a life 
superior to the body and boundless as eternity. 

Regard the institutions of the Sabbath. Revere the 
house of God — not the building of wood and stone — but 
the living church of the redeemed. Hasten to the assem- 
blies of the saints, both as a means of personal edification, 
and of profession and conviction to the world around you. 



IN THE FAMILY. 105 

Feel that your relationship to them is more sacred and more 
enduring than any others which you sustain. Go not to 
hear a man and to sit in judgment on his opinions ; go to 
"worship God in the beauty of holiness, and to hear the word 
of truth as from His lips. Be sure to place yourself and 
family, at whatever trouble, under a ministry that is most 
adapted to impart and advance spiritual life. Honor that 
ministry in the presence of your children and domestics. 
Good cannot possibly come to them or to you fiom a min- 
istry which you treat with levity, or expose to ridicule. No 
surer cause of spiritual barrennesss to a family can be 
found than an unprofitable ministry, or a ministry which 
they have learned to disesteem. 

Carefully sustain the good effect of public worship, by 
a corresponding temper and conversation at home. The 
finest effect of the sanctuary has frequently vanished before 
a little levity or worldliness in the family. Secure on this 
day some opportunities of religious intercourse with your 
household. When good impression has been made treat it 
as confidential and private. Encourage those who are the 
subjects of it to retire for reading, reflection, and prayer ; 
and supply the busiest with favorable opportunities for 
so doing. A period for retirement should be as much 
reckoned on in a family as a period for meals. All find 
time to dine, and all should find time to pray. Prayer is 
the food of the soul. 

5. Improved example will contribute to advance reli- 
gion in the family. After all, example is the great teacher. 
To the adult it is so ; to the young it is more especially so. 
Hence our Saviour embodied his doctrine in his life. What 
avail, at this hour, would his doctrine be to us, if it had not 
been sustained by his entire conduct ? 

6 



106 ITS ADVANCEMENT 

Children make more use of the eye than the ear ; and 
the impressions are clearer and stronger from the one than 
the other. They will not be influenced so much by what 
you say, as by what you do. In vain do you exhort them to 
be spiritual, while you are worldly. In vain do you point 
them to the narrow path which leads to heaven, while you 
decline to walk in it. In vain do you warn them from car- 
nal indulgences, in which you seek your gratification. You 
must live what you teach ; you must be what you desire 
them to become. This is the necessary price of a happy 
state of religion in the family ; and it is, alas ! a price many 
parents decline to pay. They desire that their children 
should be religious — it is safe and convenient ; but they 
cannot afford to promote their desires by a strict and full 
example. They judge themselves unworthy of eternal life. 

Look, then, carefully to your example. There is in it 
the power of life and death. Whatsoever is just in prin- 
ciple, lovely in carriage, true in utterance, fair in report, 
generous in sentiment, and noble in aim, think of these 
things, cherish these things, as the grace of Christian life. 
All meanness, vanity, equivocation, trickery, low desire — 
the desire of gain the most sordid of all — are worse in you 
than in other persons. Common vice is made prodigious 
by the character of your profession. One cherished incon- 
sistency may perplex the faith and destroy the soul of a 
servant — a child. They may know little, but they are ex- 
ceedingly shrewd in marking improprieties. A dissipated 
youth, once appealed to by the name and profession of his 
father, turned away and sneeringly exclaimed, " My fa- 
ther's profession ! the less said of that the better !" The son 
had come to know, that some of the father's transactions 
had not been so upright as his profession demanded. 

Oh ! as you value the life of your household, look 



IN THE FAMILY. 107 

well to put every stumbling-block out of their WRy. What- 
ever infirmities may still cleave to you, take care that no- 
thing disturb their conviction of the sincerity and integrity 
of your Christian character. Let the ruling purpose of life 
be perfectly clear, and the total impression salutary. So 
that when those who best knew you and most loved you, 
shall witness your end, and bear you from your dwelhng in 
sorrow, and commit you to the grave, and look for the last 
time on you before the earth covers you, the spontaneous 
voice of conscience may be, " Well, he was a true Chris- 
tian ! Let my life and my death be like his !" 

If such effect is emanating from your living character, 
one half the good we are contemplating for your family is 
already secured. Education is, after all, a different thing 
from what many suppose it. They confine it to books, to 
classes, to lessons, and the professed teacher. No, it is not, 
in its most essential parts, so ceremonious a thing ; and it 
is always going on. Your principles are education; your 
temper is education ; your habits are education ; your gov- 
erning desires and pursuits are education. The society 
you keep, and the conversation you maintain is education. 
These are silently, but potently working good or ill for your 
household every day, and every hour. If these are in har- 
mony with your profession, you need not be diffident of 
results. There may still be wanted the aids of science and 
of art ; but the great elements of education are with you ; 
andyour tender charge is training for the duties of this life, 
and the joys of a future, beneath the most auspicious in- 
fluence. 

6. I will close this series of remark by one other, and 
that is. Begin afresh. This may seem a trite observation ; 
but, in my judgment, it is, of all others, the most important. 



108 ITS ADVANCEMENT 

You may have been satisfied, by reflection on the sub- 
ject, that you have never been ruflit. You have not habit- 
ually regarded God, as the common and gracious Father 
of parent and child. You have not walked in his presence ; 
you have not upheld his authority ; you have not rejoiced 
in his worship, nor have you trained your household chiefly 
to his fear and service. Your religion has been a form 
without life, an instrument without power. You have 
honored God with your mouth, and with your knee, but 
your heart has been far from Him. Religion has found 
from you a ceremonious acknowledgment, because her ob- 
servances are decent, or her restraints are desirable, or her 
name is hallowed to your memory by previous example ; 
but the spirit of the world and of this life has reigned over 
your mind, your family, and all your arrangements for its 
welfare. If such should be your convictions ; and if you 
have the candor to entertain them ; with what emphasis does 
the Past say to you, Begin afresh ! 

But it may be, that you have a pleasant consciousness 
of having begun in the Spirit. Still a comparison of what 
was your happiest state, with your present disposition and 
conduct, may carry you to a profitable though unfavorable 
conclusion. The tendency of the mind is to slip away from 
what is most difficult in religion. Nothing is so difficult as 
to preserve its spirituality. Insensibly your heart may have 
slid away from your first love, first faith and former sim- 
plicity. In this state of declension, habits may have been 
formed and opinions generated, prejudicial to the life of 
godliness. Your very tones of speech, and modes of ad- 
dress and prevalent temper, may have been silently altered, 
and altered to the disadvantage of religion. Prayer may 
be so uttered as to quench the spirit of prayer; and theho- 
sanna of praise may languish and die on the formal tongue. 



IN THE FAMILY. 109 

What is the remedy in such a case ? Begin afresh. 
Compare the present with the past — compare things as 
they are, with things as they should be. Fall willingly 
under the convictions of defect and sin. Pause in your 
course. Break up existing habits. Revise all your ar- 
rangements in reference to a revived state of religion. Set 
an elevated standard before you. Deeply consider the one 
great end for which you are constituted a family by the 
Father of us all. Ask anxiously and prayerfully, how each 
member may be best prepared for a bright and blessed 
eternity. Reconstruct all your methods, when the mind is 
most solemnly affected by the power of religion and the 
world to come. Be jealous of the tendencies which you 
have detected in your own spirit to depart from God ; and, 
from time to time, correct yourself by a penitential recurrence 
to the standard of all excellence and grace. Always, Be- 
gin afresh ! 

11. 

We are now to glance at the inducements which should ' 
incline us to this service. These are manifold. You will 
naturally recur, in the first instance, 

1. To your relationship. The persons for whose bene- 
fit we are now discoursing are yours. Yours by the most 
endeared ties — your wife — your child. You value them as 
such. You protect and provide for them as such. Of all 
that is yours, they are most yours. They stand the near- 
est to you ; and they have the first place in your affections. 
They are more to you than property, more than fame, more 
than pleasure, more than life. What a poor thing would 
life be without them 1 What would you not do for them 1 
What would you not sacrifice 1 



110 ITS ADVANCEMENT 

But why 1 Who made you what you are ? Who 
gave thee the wife of thy bosom, the children of thy youth? 
Wlio has brought to you so much of comfort and endear- 
ment, from these blessed connections 1 Who has made 
you to differ from the most bereaved and unhappy ; and 
who might strike your choicest comforts dead at any instant 
of time 7 And why are you thus blessed and thus depend- 
ent 1 Unquestionably, that you may acknowledge God ; 
that you may see that the various links of domestic life are 
sustained by the one prior link which unites you to Him ; 
that, as you derive all from Him, you may yield all to Him ; 
that your lesser claims may rest on his authority, and your 
daily bliss be gathered from his favor. 

2. Then remember the vows by which you are pledged. 
By solemn vow you have become yourself a consecrated 
person ; and by solemn vow you have dedicated your chil- 
dren and household to God. You have perhaps done this 
by a public act and before many witnesses. Implied or 
expressed, you have done it a thousand times. In the an- 
ticipation of these relationships, you have said. They shall 
be thine. In the fearful hour of solicitude and pain, and in 
the grateful hour of deliverance and joy, you have said, 
with unutterable tenderness, They shall be thine. All sin- 
cere prayer and all spiritual desire have taken this character. 

By every such purpose of heart you have resigned your 
inferior claims to the superior right of God. And shall it be 
an empty mockery ? The vows which your lips have uttered 
in distress and in deliverance — in agony and in rapture — 
shall they be despised and forgotten 1 or if remembered, 
remembered only on high, to be recorded against you ? It 
cannot be ! This would be to expose yourself willingly to 
the infehcity and guilt of knowing the Master's will and 



IN THE FAMILY. Ill 

doing it not. You will recollect yourself. You will revive 
the past. You have promised, and you will perform. You 
will gratefully say/" I am thy servant, and the son of thine 
handmaid ; and these, the children thou hast given me, be- 
hold, They are all thine." 

3.1 beg of you to consider the iiijluence which you 
have over your family. That you have this influence, is 
placed beyond proof. It is meant that you should have it. 
It springs necessarily from your age, your character, your 
knowledge ; from inexpressible endearments and obliga- 
tions. It is greater than that of any other human being. 
Who knows like you the temper, the infirmities, the neces- 
sities of your household ? Who like you can so readily 
win their attention and confidence 1 Who is loved, as you 
are loved ; or trusted as you are trusted ? A word, a look, 
from you, what power is in it to rebuke, to regulate or to 
cheer ! 

Again we ask. Why is this 1 That you may despise 
it ? That you may use it to your own selfish purposes ? 
No. It is a means of happiness to yourself, but it is some- 
thing more. It is a trust as well as a treasure. Over all 
the chords that unite you in harmonious relationship, there 
is a voice that says, " Train up this child for me, and I will 
give thee wages." It is a claim prior to your own, supe- 
rior to your own. You cannot dispense with it. None 
can give you a dispensation from it. No godfather, no 
godmother, no teacher, no minister, can release you — you 
are bound to Heaven, and none on earth can set you free ! 

4. Then revert to the state of your relatives in domes- 
tic life. Nothing is more certain than that they participate 
with you in a common state of sinfulness. And can any 



1 12 ITS ADVANCEMENT 

thing be more affecting ? That the objects of your tender- 
est love, who are growing up around your table in beauty 
like the olive plant, and about whom are entwined the 
dearest hopes of life, should be alienated from God, desti- 
tute of his likeness, and children of wrath, even as others ! 
That those who daily love and serve you, should decline 
His service and withhold their hearts from Him I Can any 
thing be more afflictive to a generous mind 1 

Yes, there is yet a nearer view of the subject which is 
more distressing. It is that you, as a parent, have been 
accessory to this state of things. They are the subjects of 
darkness, perversity and alienation : but they derive it from 
you. They are born in your likeness ; in miniature, they 
are what you are. " Who can bring a clean thing out of 
an unclean ?" 

Are you a parent 1 Have you any tenderness 1 Can 
you do otherwise than deeply commiserate the evil estate 
of those you love — an estate to which you have brought 
them ? Suppose you had taken a malignant fever ; and 
that after life had trembled in the balance, a change came 
over you which secured your recovery. But, while recov- 
ering yourself, suppose you should learn that your family 
had taken the disease; that your beloved children were 
sinking — dying — beneath its raging power ; what would 
be your agony ! " Unhappy parent," you would exclaim, 
" that I am ! I am spared ; but where are all my beloved 
ones — my children? Writhing in agony — gasping in 
death ! and all through me ! would to God that I had died 
for them !" 

Are you a Christian parent ? Are you more afflicted 
by physical evil than by that which is spiritual 1 Are you 
concerned for the bodily life of a child, and not for its eter- 
nal welfare ? Is death more than hell ? Will you not 



IN THE FAMILY. 113 

hasten to redeem the objects of your love from evils which 
are illimitable and everlasting — evils which have found 
their bitter source in your apostasy from God 1 

5. Then bear in mind, that you have special promises 
to encourage you in looking to the salvation of your family. 
It is evidently the design of God to regard us in our social, 
as well as in our separate and individual capacity. It 
should seem that he has peculiar delight in revealing him- 
self under the parental character, and in recognising the 
same character in us. " I know him," he said of Abraham, 
" that he will order his household after him ;" and then fol- 
lows the promise of blessing to his seed to the latest gener- 
ation. We are to train up our child in the way he should go, 
with the assurance, that when he is matured in life he shall 
not depart from it. As the tender branch retains in age 
the direction which was given to it in youth, so shall the 
future man display the habits and principles of the child. 

The New dispensation looks, as one might expect, not 
with less, but with more complacency on the young of our 
families. The promise of the Holy Spirit is " to us and to 
our children." Yea, the believing husband sanctifieth the 
unbelieving wife for the sake of their offspring — such is 
the exuberance of grace. And the blessed Saviour breathes 
the whole spirit of the economy, when he says to those who 
would prevent it — " Suffer little children to come unto me, 
for of such is the kingdom of heaven." 

As much grace might have been intended for our fami- 
lies, without these assurances. But since we have such 
exceedingly precious promises, shall they not stimulate you 
to give all diligence for the salvation of your households ? 
Beneath trial, discouragement, and labor, will you not 
believe the promise, plead the promise, rest on the promise, 
6* 



114 ITS ADVANCEMENT 

resolving not to relinquish it till it is fulfilled ? Thousands 
of blissful children are already before the throne of God 
and of the Lamb ; ultimately the majority of the saved 
will be found amongst the young of our race. And shall 
not your children have their names written in the Book of 
Life ? Will not you claim and plead your interest in that 
covenant which is for you and yours, and which is ordered 
in all things and sure ? Oh ! if there were no promise 
how intensely would you desire one ! Now that every 
thing is full of promise, surely you will use all means for 
their salvation. 

6. Finally. Have respect to the benefits which would 
arise from success in laboring for the salvation of your fa- 
mily. Of success, in the right use of appointed means, 
there can be no place for doubt ; for He is true and faith- 
ful who hath promised. But who shall appreciate its 
blessedness ? 

To yourself what joy would it bring ! It has been 
questioned, whether there is such a malady as a broken 
heart. Allowing for the figurative character of the ex- 
pression, I believe there is ; and if any were to be found 
on earth, it is with the parent of an ungrateful, disobedi- 
ent, and ungodly child. And the agony would be complete 
and beyond a cure, if the errors of the child were to be 
traced to the negligence of the parent. Reverse this case, 
and measure the joy by the grief. 

A beloved child, having arrived at maturity, w^as seiz- 
ed with consumption, and was now in the last stage of fee- 
bleness and of life. She begged to see her father alone. 
A thousand times that father had prayed for her ; and 
always had watched for her conversion to God. He had 
done so through some discouragements, but with many 



IN THE FAMILY. 115 

hopes. In this extreme affliction nothing did he desire so 
deeply as some exphcit intimation from the hps of his child 
which should remove doubt, and confirm his confidence. In 
this temper of mind he hastened to her presence. She was 
low, very low, and gasping for breath. She begged to be 
raised on her pillows, and seemed calmly intent on fulfil- 
ling a duty. She placed her hand on his arm, and said 
with broken utterance, " My dear father, listen to me. 
Timidity has prevented my speaking before — weakness 
almost prevents me now — but I must speak. I trust I have 
seen myself to be a sinner— I trust I have seen Christ to 
be a gracious and sufficient Saviour — I trust 1 have believ- 
ed in Him as my Saviour — I trust he is about to take me 
to heaven. Dearest father ! I owe this chiefly to you — to 
your prayers — to your counsels. Let this comfort you — 
think of your child as in heaven. We shall not be long 
parted — I shall meet you in heaven." Tell me, if you 
can, the gratitude, the joy of that parent ! 

Look at the happy effect on the family. Whence come 
those bickerings, jarrings and lesser alienations in the sa- 
cred inclosures of domestic life 1 Whence also those op- 
pressive cares, worldly anxieties, and selfish emulations 1 
Come they not in the absence of true religion 1 Wherever 
she is in reality, they are qualified ; wherever she is in 
power, they are subdued. Piety in a servant, in a child, 
not to say in a parent, has brought a surprising measure of 
bliss into a family otherwise unhappy. But suppose that 
most, or that all the members of a family are living under 
the influence of true piety, and what a scene offers itself 
for admiration ! Those who live in one house are of one 
mind. All know their relationship to each other, because 
all preserve their relations to God. Order is there, and 
peace, and love, and worship. No one lives to himself ; 



116 ITS ADVANCEMENT 

but each one for the good of all. Cares are lightened by 
participation, till they almost lose their name ; and plea- 
sures are multiplied till each one has a double portion. A 
green spot springs up in the arid wilderness of life, where 
are found again fountains of water and the tree of life. 
Angels, as they fulfil their commissions of mercy and judg- 
ment in our world, pause over such a scene, and are re- 
freshed on their way ! Ah, would you not, that your fa- 
mily might be such as that in it Paradise might be restor- 
ed, angels visitants, and God, a present God, your glory 
and salvation ! 

Look at the effect on the church. The church is a 
larger family. It is necessarily composed of the members 
of our families; and it ought especially to find its increase 
and strength from the bosom of professedly religious fami- 
lies. But frequently the accessions from this source bring 
with them more doubt and less profit, than such as are 
made from the world. The church languishes, because do- 
mestic religion languishes. 

It was a saying worthy of the piety and experience of 
Richard Baxter — " If," said he, " parents did their duty, 
adult conversion would be as rare as it is now common.'^ 
What a truth is this ! Adult conversion then, which the 
church has been accustomed to regard as so great a bless- 
ing, is really an evil to be deplored, and chargeable on the 
defective piety of our families ! If our professing families 
were as disconformed to the world, and as truly religious 
as they ought to be, our children would be well taught, 
early converted, and publicly devoted to God. In their 
profession they would be intelligent, steadfast, humble; liv- 
ing for the extension of the church in which they had been 
nourished, and for the glory of the Saviour by whom they 
had been saved. 



IN THE FAMILY. 117 

What a church should we then have ! For numbers, 
like the doves flying to their windows ; for beauty, like the 
moon walking in her brightness ; and for power, like an 
army with banners. Out of the mouth of babes and suck- 
lings should the ordained praise be expressed, and the 
enemy should be silenced in the gate. Infant piety should 
become giant piety ; she should burst the bands which the 
world has cast around her in her sickness and decrepitude ; 
and in renovated life and plenary grace, should stand forth 
to save and bless her spoilers. 

Do great objects inspire ? Here is one ; and one, per- 
haps, which you have too much overlooked- You may 
bless the church through your family ; you cannot bless it 
in the neglect of your family ; you know not what bear- 
ing the conversion of a single child may have on the pros- 
perity of the church. Hannah, when dedicating her child to 
God, little knew that Samuel was to be a prophet and 
saviour in Israel. 

Let me, finally, entreat you to look at this subject in 
the lights of death and eternity. It is the part of wisdom 
and piety to respect the end. All the ties which we hold 
on earth must be broken. The term on which we meef, is, 
that we must separate, child from parent, parent from child. 
How important that the event of death, sufficiently awful 
in itself, should not be aggravated by the horrors of the 
second death ! It is my privilege to know a person who 
can deliberately say, " I have not a relative, nor have I 
lost a relative, of whose future happiness I have a single 
doubt." What an unfailing source of domestic felicity is 
this ! Strike where he may, death cannot find one unpre- 
pared ! Then, indeed, death has lost his sting, and the 
grave its victory, and all the members of such a family are 



118 ITS ADVANCEMENT 

gathered in the fulness of time to a better and more glo- 
rious life. 

Should not this be a prominent object of Christian am- 
bition 7 To create no doubt to survivors, if called your- 
self to die ; and to have no doubt, no self-reproaches, if 
called suddenly to resign those you most love. Ah ! a sin- 
gle doubt at such a time will be dreadful, dreadful. Some 
time since I knew a youth of about sixteen years of age, 
"^ho was of generous but froward temper, and he resolved 
to go to sea. His friends were therefore constrained to 
make an arrangement to suit his wishes. He was tenderly 
beloved by his mother ; and she had educated him with as 
much religious care as most parents bestow on a child so 
young. No sooner, however, was he placed beyond her 
reach, than memory and conscience were busy with her ; 
and she thought bitterly of the many things she might 
have said, and had not — of the many occasions which 
might have been improved for his spiritual welfare, and 
were not. She reproached herself, but found present relief 
in the sincere resolution, that on his return she would 
surely, and without delay, be more in earnest for his full 
conversion to God. Alas, for her—he never returned ! — 
he was lost at sea. The shock laid her prostrate, and left 
her distracted. It was not merely that her son was lost to 
her, but that he was lost to God, and that she had been a 
guilty party to his ruin. What she regarded as her negli- 
gences rose on her mind like the great waters, and threat- 
ened to overwhelm her. And still that tender and gra- 
cious spirit is battling, in doubtful conflict, with unavailing 
regrets, and bitter accusations, which no earthly hand can 
subdue. Ah, pray to be spared the agony of losing a be- 
loved relative without hope in his death — pray to be spared 



IN THE FAMILY. Il9 

the greater agony of feeling that, if lost, you have not 
done what you might and ought for his salvation ! 

Death removes us from time into eternity. All our re- 
lationships have a'^bearing on that eternity. We are all 
immortal, and must dwell for ever in a state the most 
wretched or blissful. Do we entirely believe this great 
truth ? Can any thing equal its solemnity 1 Should it 
not be your chief, your uttermost desire through life, that 
all your beloved connections should awake to a glorious 
and blessed immortality ? Can any thing equal the honor, 
the bliss, the joy of then appearing a redeemed family — a 
holy family — a united family — a family in heaven 1 
Would you not willingly encounter all toils, any sufferings, 
any death to realize it 1 

Allow the reverse to present itself to your mind. Sup- 
pose that in that great day there was an exception'; that 
all of your beloved family were admitted to the heavenly 
bliss — except one. That all were there — but a revered 
father ; all — but a devoted mother ; all — but an endeared 
son ! How could you bear the agony of that discovery 1 

If so fearful, so irretrievable, then, should you not Seek 
with your whole soul to prevent it now ? In your family, 
as it is now found, is there not at least one member, of 
whom you must think that he is unprepared for death and 
heaven ? If he were to die now, die as he is, would you 
not have just reason to fear that he would never see light, 
never see you in peace ? And can you bear to think of 
him — your child, your parent — falling away from the bliss 
of heaven and the presence of God, down, down to the low- 
est depths of darkness and perdition for ever and for ever ? 
Oh, if you would prevent the horrible catastrophe, prevent 
it now ! Now is the acceptable time, now is the day of 
salvation. To-morrow may be too late. Your relative 



120 ITS ADVANCEMENT IN THE FAMILY. 

may be lost, and you may be guilty of his blood. You 
ought not to endure to live in comfort a day with him who is 
living without God ; nor to accept with complacency the 
love of him who declines to love the highest object of af- 
fection. 

Awake, then, from your slumbers ; listen not to the 
subtle spirit of procrastination. Too much time has 
been lost already. Every hour the unconverted and im- 
penitent remains such, he remains in rebellion against the 
Author of his being, and stands exposed to his righteous 
but inexorable wrath. By all the considerations which 
have passed before you, w^ith all their accumulated power; 
by your tenderest relationships and most solemn vows ; by 
the misery and the guilt of those you most deeply love ; by 
the encouraging promises and abounding mercy of God ; by 
the bliss of heaven and the untold horrors of perdition, as- 
pire to be a saved, a happy family ! 



LECTURE V. 



THE ADVANCEMENT OF RELIGION 



BY THE MINISTRY. 



LECTURE V. 

ITS ADVANCEMENT BY THE MINISTRY. 

" Knowing therefore the terror of the Lord, we persuade 
men.'' 

The ministry is a divine institution. It has God for its 
Author ; truth for its substance ; and salvation for its end. 
It is not only a means of grace ; it is the best and chiefest. 
The world may account it to be weakness or folly ; but in 
a higher judgment it is " the wisdom of God and the power 
of God." It is the ministry " of grace, of reconciliation, of 
life, of the Spirit, and of glory." It, more than all other 
means united, is to reveal the Father, glorify the Son, 
gather in the church, civilize the nations, and bless man- 
kind. 

The success of this ministry, on its institution by our 
Lord, is sufficient to justify this statement. By the living 
testimony of a few disciples, the word of the Lord had 
" free course," and was abundantly " glorified." In one 
day three thousand persons were converted, and added to 
the church. Speedily afterwards we are told, that many 
heard and believed, and that " the number of the men was 
about five thousand." Still it spread ; and Jew and Gen- 
tile, bond and free, yielded to its power and magnified the 
name of the Lord Jesus. All the forms of superstition and 
idolatry quailed before the simple exhibition of the cross. 
In the course of about half a century large and flourishing 
churches were established in Jerusalem, Antioch, Corinth, 



124 ITS ADVANCEMENT 

Epbesus, and Rome ; and " the glorious gospel of the 
blessed God" had been proclaimed to all nations. 

This ministry is still with the church. But does it carry 
with it the same evidence of its power and efficiency 1 
Certainly not. Over a great portion of Christendom it is 
not a living but a dead letter ; and where it has life, it is, 
in most cases, in so feeble a measure, as not to be a pre- 
pared instrument of imparting life to others. Under a 
primitive ministry, thousands were converted by one ser- 
mon ; no\v a thousand sermons may yield but one conver- 
sion. And we are so accustomed to this state of things, 
that we scarcely expect any considerable improvement. If 
several persons should profess to have been renewed by one 
discourse, we should regard it either with surprise or suspi- 
cion; and if they should shortly after be added to the 
church, surrounding churches would cherish fear, if they 
refrained from condemnation. *' We stagger, through un- 
belief," at the very promise which we formally plead in our 
supplications. 

Where the ministry is acting directly, and with most 
power, it is still a feeble instrument for good. In a congre- 
gation of five hundred persons, if one hundred are brought to 
a state of decision and fellowship, and if this proportion 
is sustained from year to year, by eight or ten conversions, 
it is sufficient to satisfy expectation if not desire. But such 
an advance hardly covers the wastes of defection and death ; 
and is not at all commensurate with the advancing num- 
bers of the world's population. The ministry therefore, at 
this moment, instead of an advancing movement, is, as com- 
pared with the increasing numbers and wants of mankind, 
falling away to a greater and more palpable state of inef- 
ficiency ! 

What then is to be done ? The ministry, to become 



BY THE MINISTRY. 125 

the means of renovation so the church and the world, must 
itself he renovated. This is the aspect in which we propose 
to contemplate it. Let us do so with the solemnity and 
prayerfulness which its importance demands. And may 
the renovating influence, which we recognise as necessary, 
be so freely bestowed as that this may be the hour of our 
spiritual renovation ! 

Without being constrained by the passage which w^e 
have read to you, let us follow its suggestions so far as they 
may assist in giving method and force to our meditations. 
Mark the subject of this ministry ; the manner in which it 
should be exercised ; and the motive which should stimu- 
late us in this service. 



I. 

The great subject of this ministry is the truth — revealed 
truth — the truth as it is in Jesus — the truth of the New 
Testament. 

1. The truth we utter must be scriptural even to its 
very manner. 

It must not be hidden in technicalities, nor dissipated in 
philosophical refinements. It must be expressed, not in 
syllogisms, nor in systems, nor in human formularies ; but 
with all the life, light and freedom of Scripture. As it is 
our sure, so it is our sufficient guide. The Bible, my breth- 
ren, is orthodox enough for me; the Bible has symmetry 
enough for me ; the Bible has philosophy enough for me. 
It must be our exemplar as well as our warrant. As we 
are filled with its spirit and catch its manner, we become 
able ministers of the New Testament ; when we would be 



126 ITS ADVANCEMENT 

wiser than it, we are weak and foolish indeed. " The words 
that I speak unto you, they are spirit and they are life." 

2. The truth is to be delivered in its fulness. We are 
to preach all the law and all the gospel ; the whole coun- 
sel of God, whether it relate to our ruin or our recovery, 
the Divine sovereignty or human responsibility, the claims 
of this life or of the hfe that is to come. This we are to 
do sincerely, faithfully, perseveringly, whether men will 
hear, or whether they forbear to hear. 

We soon find, by experience, that the heart of man is 
at enmity with the truth of the gospel ; and we then come 
under strong temptation to withhold, to conceal, or to 
palliate. This would be to deal "deceitfully with the word 
of the Lord ;" and as it would expose us to Divine repre- 
hension, so it would assuredly disqualify us for all real use- 
fulness. The truth is the sole instrument of repentance, 
conversion, sanctification, and spiritual life. Not a mind 
can be enlightened, not a sinner saved, without the appli- 
cation and belief of the truth. To withhold the truth, there- 
fore, in whole or in part, or to adulterate it in its exhibi- 
tion, that it may become palatable, is to be ashamed of 
the cross ; it is so to please men as to cease to be the ser- 
vants of God ; it is to be stricken in the right eye and in 
the right arm — to be sightless and powerless for all the 
high purposes for which a ministry exists in our world. 

Yet there is considerable mistake here. Many persons 
have thought that in order to faithfulness, every kind of 
truth should find place and prominence in each discourse ; 
and many preachers, adapting themselves to this opinion, 
have thrown together on one occasion a variety of subjects, 
with as httle connection as beads on a string. The indo- 
lence of the most indolent might be satisfied with such a 



BY THE MINISTRY. 127 

course ; but as it costs nothing, so it is really worth little 
to the hearer. Even where the defect is not so serious, the 
consequence is still prejudicial. I have heard a discourse 
on the great subject of the Judgment, in which an effort was 
made throughout to render it both consolatory and alarm- 
ing. It w^as, therefore, neither the one nor the other in a 
high degree. Otherwise, it was an excellent sermon ; and 
but for this fault would have been powerful. 

In a discourse, let it be remembered, unity is power. 
He who ventures to speak should have one great end be- 
fore him ; and he should be so seriously affected towards 
it as to induce whatever might lead to it, and as carefully 
to exclude every thing that was not necessary to the issue. 
We need not fear, in such a course, that important truth 
would be forbidden to us. Truth is one. We have failed 
from want of sympathy with the truth. Deeper fellowship 
with the truth would have shown us, how the effect of any 
one truth is sustained by its connection with all other truth ; 
and would have given more simplicity to our purpose and 
more force to our ministrations. Our eye should have 
been single, and our whole body would have been full of 
light. 

Extremes meet each other. Some preachers, quick to 
detect the error on which we have remarked, have run 
into an opposite one. They have studiously sought to con- 
ceal every portion of the gospel from the awakened sinner, 
lest it should interfere with the process of conviction ! Can 
this be correct 1 Is it after apostolical models ? Does not 
this kind of management savor rather of human, than of 
the divine wisdom ? True it is, that the gospel may be so 
used in a season of conviction as to allay anxiety and weak- 
en impressions ; but well we know, that it, above all other 
things, may be employed to establish conviction and gene- 



128 ITS ADVANCEMENT 

rate repentance unto life. What like it can reveal the 
sinfulness of sin, the wilfulness of the sinner, the forbear- 
ance of God, the love of Christ, and the uttermost expres- 
sions of infinite mercy ? And what like these considera- 
tions can become constraining motives to godly sorrow 
and absolute submission to God ? Again we say. The 
Truth is one ; it cannot work against itself. Fear nothing 
for the Truth, my brethren I Fear only lest it should be 
warped or discolored by the unskilful or the polluted hands 
through which it passes to your fellow-men. 

Shall I sustain these remarks by an illustration, which 
has recently occurred to my notice ? It is that of a person 
who had many religious privileges in early life, and who 
was led with much feeling and zeal to make a full profes- 
sion. From that profession, under the influence of worldly 
pursuits, he fell away. He was successful in business, but 
unhappy in spirit ; and he sought to quiet anxiety, not by 
full repentance, but by sinful indulgence. For twenty 
years he remained in this state, his religious friends often 
urging, and himself often resolving to return. Suddenly 
he was seized with sickness, which left him in no doubt of 
his condition — he must die ! What confusion — what 
agony was his! His friends heard of his terror, and made 
haste each one to comfort him ; but no, he refused to be 
comforted. 

A minister, who knew something of the case, was re- 
quested to visit him. He resolved to deal faithfully with 
him. He heard all he wished to say, and then endeavored 
to release his mind from the past, whether for hope or des- 
pair, and to fix it on the present. His privileges, his 
knowledge, his profession, the mercies of God, and the 
unutterable sorrows of the Son of God, were all employed 
to aggravate his guilt, to reduce him to utter despair in his 



BY THE MINISTRY. 129 

own resources, to constrain him to a total surrender of him- 
self into the hands of God, even though he should be coh- 
demned. From a state of wild agitation, he sank down, 
like a child, into tenderness and tears. "Ah, sir," he cried, 
clasping the hand of his friend, *' that is it. That is what 
I want. I do not want comfort — I am afraid of comfort 
at present. It will not do for me to trust in a past conver- 
sion. I want to be converted now, I want to see more of 
the evil of sin — I cannot see enotigh. I long for a broken 
heart and a contrite spirit. 1 am a guilty, guilty sinner. 
Let God be glorified, whatever becomes of me." Repent- 
ance on a death-bed is seldom to be trusted ; this, how- 
ever, through all its stages, was highly satisfactory. It is 
admitted the gospel may have been unskilfully used in the 
first instance ; but where, in the absence of the gospel, 
shall we look for such ultimate results 1 

3. The truth, on which we have thus briefly remarked, 
is to be presented to " men.''' " Knowing the terror of the 
Lord, we persuade men." It has respect to man.''' Our 
ministry turns not on ourselves, but on others. If we 
hold it and use it for ourselves — for our personal interest^ 
or pleasure, or honor — we are not the servants of God; 
and the ministry, in our hands, is not an ordinance of God 
for the salvation of men. Philanthropy must be the spirit 
of our ministry. 

As it regards man, so especially the better part of man, 
his soul. His soul is himself. We are to win souls — to 
watch for souls — to labor for souls, as they who must give 
an account. Man is distinguished by a spiritual nature and 
an everlasting being — these are every thing to him. Our 
ministry is prepared to meet his highest necessities. It has 
no temporal character. It is adapted to impart benefits 

7 



130 ITS ADVANCEMENT 

suited to his nature, and lasting as his duration. Its spirit- 
uality is its glory. 

Again, man is the subject of this ministry absolutely. 
It respects not the circumstances of human existence, but 
man. Not opulent man ; not literary man -, not titled 
man ; not civilized man ; not man commended to us by 
any extrinsic distinctions ; but man as man. The minister, 
like his Master in heaven, is to have no respect of persons. 
He is to be superior to t^e accidents of life, and to look 
steadily at its essentials. His great ruling maxim should 
be — Jill souls are equal ; and he should labor and pray and 
feel equally for all. 

This may be readily admitted ; but it is not so easily 
fulfilled. How few are there who are not, more or less, 
class preachers. Before wealth and fashion, they task 
themselves ; with a poor congregation, they are negligent. 
Numbers will excite them to action ; where two or three 
are gathered together, they are torpid and indifferent. 
Others, more at fault, affect learning and the learned. 
They themselves are intellectual, and they thirst for refined 
and intelligent hearers. They hardly expect, perhaps 
scarcely desire, that the poor and the ignorant should un- 
derstand or admire them. Ah ! it may be well if that ig- 
norance, which they do not seek to dissipate, is not made 
the object of ridicule, as it is of secret contempt. Can any 
thing be more vicious? Again we say, Jill souls are 
equal. Apart from external circumstance ; yea, apart from 
the measure of cultivation, all souls are equal j since all 
are rational — all are immortal — all are capable of infinite 
joy or wo. 

Finally, man — unconverted man — is the subject of this 
ministry. This would seem to be exceedingly plain ; but 
an opposite opinion has been held, and held with great te- 



BY THE MINISTRY. 131 

naclty. It has been said, that we are not to preach to 
sinners. Indeed ! But does not the gospel suppose a 
state of sin ? and may it not be addressed to sinners ? Is 
it a remedy for sin, and may it not be announced to those 
who are perishing under the malady ? Not preach to sin- 
ners ! To whom did the Saviour preach ? To whom did 
Peter, on the day of Pentecost, preach ? To whom did the 
apostle to the Gentiles preach ? In a world of sinful men, 
without exception, to whom, in the first instance is it to be 
proclaimed, if not to sinners ? My brethren, surely the 
absurdity of the opinion is its sufficient refutation ! 

Yet, where an opinion is professedly rejected, it may 
exercise an indirect influence. Practically, I think, we 
have much to correct. Our ministry, I have reason to be- 
lieve, is too exclusively addressed to men as regenerated, 
as professed, as in a state of fellowship. It is to the church 
rather than the world — to saints rather than to sinners, that 
we speak. Too little effort is made to bring the world un- 
der the ministry ; too little attention is given to the worldly 
when they are present ; and too often the whole assembly, 
however promiscuous, is comprehended under the common 
appellation of Christians. Now, without doubt, the minis- 
try, especially the stated ministry, ought to be greatly di- 
rected to the edification of those who have " through grace 
believed ;" but certainly not to the neglect of those who 
are still in a state of sin through unbelief. Man, let it be 
remembered, is the object of this ministry. Not man as 
regenerated, nor man as elected ; but man as a fallen, sin- 
ful creature, needing all the appliances of the gospel for 
his salvation. 

II. 

In the second place, let us mark the manner in which 



132 ITS ADVANCEMENT 

this ministry is to be exercised. " Knowing the terror of 
the Lord, we persuade men." The ministry is to be per- 
suasive, eminently persuasive. Whatever else it may be, 
it is essentially defective if it is not persuasive. 

The suggestion which first springs to the mind is, that 
to persuade others we must be ourselves persuaded. This, 
however, is not merely to preach the truth. Many in our 
day announce the gospel, or a preparation of human and 
Divine sentiment much resembling the gospel, who have no 
perception of its glory, and no participation in its grace. 
The gospel, it may be, is popular; it is the only means of 
securing the needful congregation, or of efficiently oppos- 
ing the rising sect ; and therefore it is zealously proclaimed. 
But how shall the blind lead the blind ? How shall the 
deaf teach the deaf ? How shall the dead breathe life into 
the dead 1 The very gospel loses its vitahty in such 
hands. 

To preach the truth, we must be persuaded of the truth. 
It must have come to us, not only in word, but in " demon- 
stration of the Spirit," and " in much assurance." It must 
have shone into our mind, subdued our sin, and reconciled 
us to God. We must be as fully persuaded of its truth as 
of our own existence, and of its ultimate success, as though 
it were spread in glory before our eyes. This is, indeed, 
the force of the term. With our apostle it is a graduated 
expression. It is more than seeing — more than believing. 
It is not only sight, but trust ; not only faith, but assurance ; 
not only interest, but blessed enjoyment. This is persua- 
sion. Such is the qualification of the true minister. He 
dwells in the light and in God. That which he hath seen, 
and tasted, and handled of the Avord of life, he declares to 
others, and life and persuasion hang on his lips. Men 
vaunt themselves of an apostolical succession ; he alone is 



BY THE MINISTRY. 133 

apostolically descended — he alone breathes the spirit, ap- 
prehends the commission, and exliibits the credentials of an 
apostle. The true minister is the true Christian — the true 
and earnest believer. 

The apostle maintains, that he who is thus persuaded 
will persuade others. It is this persuasiveness, this unction 
and life, which he commends to us ; and it is of this that 
he himself is the great example. Whatever excellency 
our ministry may possess, in this particular there is great 
and lamentable deficiency — it is not an efficient ^nA fruit- 
ful ministry. It may be profitable carefully to inquire, Aoi^j 
it may he advanced to a higher state of usefulness. We 
cannot profess to exhaust this important subject, nor fully 
to illustrate it ; yet the following remarks may be worthy 
of consideration. 

1. Then w^e think, the ministry to be more persuasive, 
must be more enlightened. We speak not now of prepar- 
atory courses, though they supply room for large discourse, 
but of their results. Our ministers, whatever the process, 
require not merely the run of a college, the use of lan- 
guages, and a certain acquaintance with books ; beyond all 
this, they need chiefly that knowledge which books cannot 
give, and which wealth cannot buy. They need to know 
themselves; to know what is in man on whom they have 
to operate ; to know the world, and the things most ad- 
mired by the world, that they may be despised and con- 
demned on knowledge. They need that measure of in- 
formation, and that ripened state of the faculties, which 
w^ill secure to them freedom of thought, correctness of 
judgment, power in argument, and firmness in conclusion. 

Especially, the knowledge of the minister is to be theo- 
logical. Theology is his profession. For it he is to pre- 



134 ITS ADVANCEMENT 

pare. It should be the chosen study of his life. All other 
pursuits and acquisitions are to be valued only for its sake. 
Things are to be precious or worthless to him as they may 
affect his advancing acquaintance with the will of God, in 
the word of God. Scripture, therefore, is to be his Divine 
treasury. He is to be the student of the Bible, and to as- 
pire to be " mighty in the Scriptures." They are to be 
the test and the judge of his own opinions and of all others. 
His knowledge of human theories and speculations, on the 
great subjects of theology, is to lead him to a more enlight- 
ened appreciation of the excelling glory of the New Testa- 
ment. The manner, the spirit, the doctrine, of Paul, of 
John, and of Jesus, must become very life to himself and to 
his ministry likewise. 

The light, then, of which we are chiefly speaking, is 
from above. It is not of earth, but from heaven ; not from 
the schools, but from Christ. Piety, indeed, is not suffi- 
cient ; nevertheless, it is indispensable. Where there is 
true piety, there may be much darkness ; but where piety 
is not, there is no light at all. Of all the errors which 
have brought confusion and shame on the church, the chief 
are to be referred to the absence of piety, or to a defective 
piety. Theology is a spiritual science ; and it can be seen 
only by a spiritual faculty, and through a spiritual medium. 
The finest minels on the simplest subject will otherwise be 
utterly at fault. Two expositors of the Holy Scriptures 
shall be equally acute, equally learned, equally industrious; 
the one shall give you the just sense, and the other shall 
fail of it. What is the reason ? Simply that the one has 
a more spiritual apprehension of the truth. After all, 
Scripture is a sealed book; and it is disclosed only to the 
lip of prayer and the eye of faith. 

God is light; and he that dwelleth in God dwelleth in 



BY THE MINISTRY. 135 

light and in love. He who would apprehend clearly the 
mysteries of the kingdom ; he who would have deep fel- 
lowship with revealed truth ; he who Avould become an 
able minister of the New Testament — of the spirit and not 
of the letter ; must dwell in an element not less elevated, 
not less pure. ** We have an unction from the Holy One, 
and know all things." 

2. Our ministry, to be persuasive, must be more ardent. 
The ministry, like its first example on the opening of the 
dispensation, must be a light that burns as well as shines. 
The man who thinks, that so the truth is uttered, it matters 
not in what way it is exhibited, disquahfies himself for the 
pulpit by that single opinion. Our service admits of no 
cold formalities. It must engage the heart equally with 
the understanding. Truth animated with love, reason burn- 
ing with passion, should be the characters of this ministry. 

Think not that we are pleading for noise, for extrava- 
gance, for mere physical excitement, or for the affectation 
of feeling where nothing is felt. No. We are asking only 
for earnestness — deep earnestness — an earnestness in some 
measure proportioned to the grandeur of the subject we have 
to display, the tremendous interests which are at stake, and 
the unutterable responsibility of the minister who has to 
plead them. This alone would sweep from our path mani- 
fold vices of style and manner, w^hich have embarrassed the 
course of others. We should feel the truth, and make it to 
be felt. 

This is essential to our work ; and this, though many 
think not so, is the essence of real eloquence. Eloquence 
is not that ornate, pompous, gaudy, meretricious thing which 
it is often supposed to be. It is not declamation, however 
splendid. It is not the multiplication of tropes and figures. 



136 ITS ADVANCEMENT 

It consists not, nor can it consist, in an effort to be eloquent. 
It is not found while sought ; it is found when forgotten. 
Eloquence, especially on great and momentous interests, is 
simple ; eloquence is direct j eloquence is condensed thought 
in condensed expression. It is a thrilling and absorbing 
sense of the subject, which makes us impatient to impart 
the like impressions to others, without respect to ourselves 
or our mode of doing it. Eloquence, therefore, in its sub- 
limest forms, is brief, abrupt, impassioned — deeply impas- 
sioned. It finds its last and more perfect expression, perhaps, 
in a sentence— perhaps in a w^ord ; a word, but that word 
has a world of meaning — a w^ord, but that word is a spark 
that inflames the soul — a word, but that word is " a nail 
fastened in a sure place by the Master of assemblies." 

Resolve, it has been repeatedly said, to be a good preach- 
er. Resolve, we would rather say, to be a useful preacher. 
The one will turn your attention on yourself, and will pro- 
duce either despondency or self-complacency ; the other 
will assist you to forget yourself, and to think only of your 
subject and your hearers. Choose the more excellent way. 
Have large sympathy with man in his misery ; with God 
in his perfections ; with Christ in his love ; with eternity in 
its majesty ; till yourself and all beside is forgotten. You 
shall then have hope in the fruit of your labors. Oh, be- 
lieve it, grace is here ; tone is here ; power is here ; life is 
here ! Without this, you may study your gestures at the 
mirror ; regulate your voice to the best inflexions ; and 
prepare your sermon after the most approved models ; but, 
though a crowd may admire you, your words shall die away 
from the heart, and sinners shall not be converted unto God. 
In one word. Be in earnest. Feel, and you shall be felt. 
What comes from the heart, goes to the heart. 



BY THE MINISTRY. 137 

3. The ministry, to be more useful, must be more simple. 
We have seen that simplicity is necessary to true eloquence ; 
and this may dispose of it as a question of taste. But it 
may still require attention as a means of usefulness ; the 
more so because it is found so difficult of attainment. On 
entering the ministry, we come fresh fiom the schools. Our 
memories are filled with scholastic terms, and definitions, and 
formularies; and our habits of thought have been formed 
amidst learned men and those who were in the zealous pur- 
suit of learning. It becomes, at once, needful, that we 
should unlearn much that we had learned ; and to very 
many, the last labor is greater than the first. Some may 
have chosen to remain in the element in which they have 
been trained ; others have sought to forsake it, and have 
not been able ; both classes, whatever else they may have 
been, have failed to be extensively useful in exhibiting the 
word of life. The ministry, to be more geneially success- 
ful, must become more simple in style and method. 

The style must be simple. The good minister of Jesus 
Christ must, with the apostle, study great " plainness of 
speech." All refined definition, technical terms, labored 
phrases, and involved or complicated sentences, must be 
sedulously avoided. If two expressions offer themselves to 
his use, he must prefer that which is the easier and more 
familiar. That style is on the whole the best, which is 
best understood by the largest number of our hearers. He 
must resolutely adhere to it. If he should be thought un- 
learned because he declined a learned style, as was ridicu- 
lously the case two centuries ago, he must take up the 
cross. His must be a mortified style. Its perfection will 
be found, not in its being admired, but in its not being- 
observed. The object he is anxious to present will alone 



138 ITS ADVANCEMENT 

be seen ; so clear, so transparent, is the medium through 
which it is presented. 

Still more, if possible, the method should be marked by 
simplicity. It must at once be felt, that labored disquisition, 
involved argument, abstract and doubtful or erudite specu- 
lation, are utterly out of place. Our ministry must speak 
to the eye as well as the ear; it must deal in narration as 
well as in argument ; and neither must be so co:nplicate or 
remarkable as to take attention from the subject of discourse. 
One object must be before speaker and hearer ; it must be 
readily stew from the first ; every movement, in thought and 
word, must be sensibly a nearer approach to it, by which it 
is more clearly seen, more deeply felt; till it alone possess- 
es us. A method that would divide attention between itself 
and its subject, is not only defective, but ineflicient. By 
the very law of our mind, a divided attention is fatal to all 
deep and salutary conviction. 

As an auxiliary to the simple utterance of the truth, 
repetition has frequently great power. We refer not to a 
practice w^hich obtained in a former age, of repeating for- 
mally the skeleton of a discourse at its close. Far from it. 
We speak of that repetition — it may be — of a word, a 
sentence, a sentiment, or an argument, which may give it 
force at the time; or which may gather fresh clearness and 
force from the advancing light and warmth of the appeal. 
A celebrated pleader at the American bar ascribed all his 
success to well-timed repetition. " He never expected," he 
said, " to succeed with his jury without it." We are satis- 
fied that in the pulpit it is no less efficacious. 

The simplicity of manner w'hich we have commended 
springs from aij excellence greater than itself — simplicity of 
mind. The fiist teachers are our best examples; theirs 



BY THE MINISTRY. 139 

was " the simplicity of Christ." They sought only to 
know him, to make him known to others, and to do him 
service and honor. They were no apologists for the gospel, 
before a world whose frown they dreaded. They did not 
conceal unpalatable truth in courtly phrase or unmeaning 
generalities. They had no yearnings after literary dis- 
tinction and learned honors. They had no aspirations to 
pr ach great sermons, or to be reputed great men. Oh, no 
— nothing of all this ! They were emancipated men — de- 
voted men. A dispensation of the grace of God had been 
committed to them ; they lived only to make it known, in 
utter forgetfulness of themselves ; and it was in their hands 
the power of God to the salvation of myriads ! 

4. Our ministry needs to be more direct. By this it is 
meant, that the truth should be exhibited not merely as 
before the hearers, but as to them. We and themselves 
should feel that they have, in one form or other, an imme- 
diate and deep interest in all that is uttered. Every thing 
should receive this direction. There is ample scope for 
illustration and for argument ; but they must be subservient 
to the application. Application is to the sermon what the 
edge is to the sword ; there may be the form and strength 
of the sword without it, but it will do no execution. Na- 
than made a most beautiful and pathetic representation to 
David, and admirable it was as a preparation to a given 
issue ; but what would it have been without the applica- 
tion 1 The king, peradventure, had applauded the prophet 
as the most eloquent and courtly of men ; but he had not 
smitten his breast, and, with a broken heart, confessed his 
sin. 

When a man is reluctant to believe a truth, we all 
know how difficult it is to obtain its admission. This is 



140 ITS ADVANCEMENT n 

uniformly our dijfficulty. All the efforts of the sinner are 
to parry and ward off the truth ; and all the skill and effort 
of the ministry must be employed to prevent his success. 
The human heart must be laid open, and the truth must re- 
peatedly receive the shape of personal address and appeal. 
Hearers must be classed, yea, they must be isolated ; and 
each one must feel that the appeal is to him. " He means 
me, and I'll go no more," exclaimed a hearer under such 
a service. But he was constrained to come again and 
again, till his proud heart bowed before the majesty of 
truth. 

Application, however, to be efficacious, should mostly 
be brief, sudden, unexpected, and natural. It should not 
always occur, where it is looked for, at the end of a dis- 
course; especially it should have a decided, and not a 
mixed character. The practice of dividing an application 
at the close into four or five parts, and addressing it to as 
many classes of persons, is generally to be condemned. 
Far better is it to be satisfied with giving it one direction, 
and throwing into it the whole momentum of the discourse. 
In the variety of pastoral labor, of course, there are excep- 
tions. This is the rule, and the end should ever be, what- 
ever the means, not only to reach the hearer, but to enter 
the heart. 

5. Our ministry, to be more persuasive, must be more 
pungent. It must, by its directness, reach the heart ; and 
by its power it must penetrate it, search it, try it to the 
quick. We have a prescribed work to do, and it must be 
done, though it bring pain or offence. The word of God, 
committed to us, is sharper than any two-edged sword ; 
and if it lost any thing of this character, it would be dam- 
aged in our hands. There must be nothing hidden that is 



BY THE MINISTRY. ]41 

not revealed. The sinner must be made to see, as in a 
mirror, himself, his follies, and his sins. The pride, the 
ingratitude, the unbelief, the enmity, of which he was not 
conscious, must be made bare to him. He will stand back, 
and resist ; but you must not be refused. Negligent of all 
hazard to yourself, yours must be the onward course of 
truthfulness and fidelity. All his excuses must be exposed 
as empty pretences ; all his objections must be exploded as 
without foundation ; and every refuge of lies in which he 
obstinately trusted destroyed before his face. His whole 
fault, his whole guilt, all the aggravation of his offence, 
without palliation, must be forced on him. The truth, the 
whole truth, must be worked in, through the understanding 
and the affections, till it fairly fastens on the conscience 
like a vulture — till he find no rest, no rehef, no hope in 
himself or the whole world — till he sink down into the 
dust, a subdued thing, before a God of inexorable justice, 
and infinite mercy ! 

Could such a ministry be in vain ? It might not al- 
ways be foUow^ed by the results we desire ; but whether it 
aw^akened deep resentment, as from the lips of Stephen, or 
produced full conversion, as in the case of Peter, it could 
not be in vain. How unlike the ministry of our time ! a 
ministry which is powerful neither for conviction nor con- 
version ; w^hich is neither " a savor of death unto death, 
nor of life unto life." That ministry cannot be right, 
which leaves men indifferent. 

6. The ministry, to be more persuasive, must be more 
compassionate. We must fulfil our duty to the conscience 
most strictly, most faithfully j but we must be not the less 
kind. Love must be the very motive to fidelity, or fidelity 
will become harsh and severe. The minister, while not 



142 ITS ADVANCEMENT 

like the indulgent parent who declines the medicine in pity 
to the child, must not reserab e the unnatural parent who 
insists on obedience and withholds sympathy. In either 
case, he might fail of his object. A lady suffering under 
one of the most severe diseases which affects our nature, 
was urged to see a practitioner of the first eminence. His 
opinion was all that could be desired. He saw through 
the case, and could afford her essential relief; but she could 
never be persuaded to see him a second time ; she had 
rather languish on, beneath excruciating pain. And why 1 
Just because he showed an utter insensibility to her suffer- 
ings- 

The spirit of our ministry must be compassion — ''eep 
compassion. Can any service demand it equally with ours 1 
Are any sufferings of an earthly life comparable to the suf- 
ferings of the soul ? Can any sight be so pitiable, so de- 
plorable, as that of a dependent creature wandering through 
the paths of this dark and miserable world without God, 
without a Saviour, and without hope ? Miserable — most 
miserable now ; ingulfed in endless misery hereafter. My 
brethren, if you know what pity is, here is its object. You 
cannot truly beheve in his condition without commiseration. 
You must help him — must save him. Every thing must 
be done, every thing must be risked, even his good opinion 
and friendship, to secure his salvation. You must exhort, 
rebuke, persuade. You must be one with him ; feel for 
him ; pray for him ; weep over him. Yes, weep for him ! 
For a man to weep for himself — his own sufferings or 
losses— were bai^e and unmanly; but for a man, on great 
occasions, to weep over the miseries of others, is noble, is 
sublime. So David wept ; so Paul wept ; and so Jesus 
wept ! 

And if, my brethren, many, more or less, under our 



BY THE MINISTRY. 143 

charge, remain, as too often happens, month after month, 
3^ear after year, shutting their ears to the words of life, 
and resisting, neglecting the great salvation ; becoming 
the worse, the more hardened, and the more guilty, for 
all our instructions, prayers, and entreaties; shall we not 
weep for them 1 Can we see them, perhaps our friends, 
our children, with their breath in their nostrils, liable at any 
instant to die ; heaping up wrath against the day of wrath ; 
madly walking on the precipices of destruction, insensible 
to the liquid and eternal fires, which threaten to overwhelm 
them at once, and for ever ; and shall we not weep for 
them 1 Ah, earth and heaven might weep at such a sight ! 

7. The ministry to be more persuasive must be more 
urgent. After what has been said, it is not necessary to 
use this term, otherwise than in a restricted sense. We 
wish to connect it particularly with time. We should look 
for immediate results. There is, we are persuaded, great 
and extensive error on this subject ; and it has contributed 
most fatally to check the advancement and triumphs of our 
ministry. Conversion has been treated as though it were 
the work of months or years ; and was not to be expected, 
but as the fruit of much and continuous preparation. The 
character of the ministry has been moulded on these opin- 
ions. We have not looked for immediate conversion and 
faith in Christ. The most striking appeals have been 
closed only with an expressed hope, that they might be 
entertained, and at leisure made the subject of thought and 
of prayer. If the subject is allowed to take this form only 
in the mind of the sinner, the impression will be most false 
and often most fatal. 

In the first place, it permits him to think, that, for the 
present at least, he is in a right state of mind, and can only 



144 ITS ADVANCEMENT 

come to a better state by a process of time and attention. . 
Whereas every moment in which he declines to submit to 
God and his righteousness, he is at enmity to God, and the 
child of death ! 

In the second place, the view which is thus taken of 
conversion is as unphilosophical as it is unscriptural. Con- 
versibn not only is not usually, it never can be, a progres- 
sive work. Many things may lead to it, as many effects 
will flow from it ; but it itself is one, single, supreme act of 
the mind, by which the sinner yields himself to God, and 
from being a rebel against him, becomes a penitent at his 
feet. It cannot, therefore, be progressive -, and must occur 
in some one instant of time. If time and means are spoken 
of in this connection, they must on no account be confound- 
ed with present obligation^; the sinner must distinctly know 
that they ought not to be necessary, and cannot palliate 
his sta e of rebellion. The gospel admits of no delay, 
tolerates no compromise, demands no prerequisite. It de- 
mands instant belief, instant submission, on pain of ever- 
lasting death. Had the memorable sermon of Peter closed 
with a hope that the subject would be considered, and that 
in due time it might lead to a true conversion, where would 
have been its point, its vitality, its efficiency ? The sword 
of the Spirit, which is the w^ord of God, would have been 
blurred and blunted on either side, and would have fallen 
powerless from his hand. 

Our ministry, then, must stand corrected. It must receive 
a more decisive, prompt, and peremptory character. It is 
not we who are speaking, but God who is speaking 
through us. His voice must not be trifled with. His com- 
mands must not be postponed. If possible, the person we 
now address, must not leave us in such a state of mind as 
to require a second appeal. The second appeal will be less 



BY THE MINISTRY. 145 

likely to succeed than the present. We should leave no- 
thing to the future. The present occasion should be treat- 
ed as though it were the last. Now, while we are speak- 
ing, we should expect and demand repentance towards God, 
faith in our message, and submission to the Saviour. The 
sinner should be surrounded by light and love, argument 
and persuasion ; shut up, as in a circle, to a full decision ; 
so as to be made conscious of present resistance or present 
subjection ; so as to be in Christ, or without excuse. 

8. A persuasive ministry needs to be marked by more 
perseverance. We must be urgent, always looking for 
present results ; we must be patient, always waiting and 
working for them if they are delayed. This combination 
would contribute greatly towards the perfection of ministe- 
rial service. Fitful zeal and temporary effort will not suit 
our enp:ao;ements. The minister must have one thinfj to 
do, and he must be always doing it. He must be in season 
and out of season alike devoted to it; and equally pre- 
pared for action or suffering. To save men from death 
must be his meat and his drink ; his work and his rest, his 
care and his comfort, by day and by night. The energy 
w^hich is given by the world to temporary objects must be 
transferred to those which are spiritual. " There," exclaim- 
ed an artist, on finishing a perishable work on perishable 
material, " it is done, and it has been thirty years in doing!" 
We labor for eternity, and shall we think a life long to de- 
vote to endless results 1 The Thugs of India are known 
to devote themselves w^ith imperturbed and dogged perse- 
verance for days and nights, for months and years, to the 
destruction of their fellow-man ; and shall the minister of 
the cross do less for his salvation ? Oh, if there is any 
thing in our world touching on the miraculous, it is the 



146, ITS ADVANCEMENT 

fruit of this calm, concentrated, sustained, unconquerable 
energy. It was this that made Loyola the first of Catho- 
lics, Luther the first of reformers, Xavier the chief of mis- 
sionaries, and Whitefield the chief of preachers ; and if it 
should so far prevail as to give a character to our ministry, 
it would be clothed in such forms of mysterious power and 
divine marvel, as should overawe and subdue the alien 
world to Christ ! 

The perseverance of which we speak, must find its life 
and aliment in true faith. Faith in God ; faith amounting 
to confidence ; confidence resting alone but completely on 
the simple promise and truth of God. Under the influence 
of any less principle, we shall faint and fail. Leaning on 
earth, we shall partake of its fluctuations ; outward cir- 
cumstances, our abilities, favorable prospects, must be no 
ground of dependence. The minister must look away from 
every thing to God. The sole reason of his service must 
be that God commands it ; and the sole hope of success 
in his service must be that God has promised it. He must 
entirely believe, that though he had the opportunity of an- 
nouncing the heavenly message to the whole world, not 
one of all the human family would receive it without the 
promise ; and that, having the promise, it is utterly im- 
possible that he should labor in vain in the Lord. He will 
do his utmost; and then lie down on the word and truth 
of God, in the bliss of hope, and the full assurance of faith. 
He that believeth all things, to him all things are possible ! 

9. Our ministry, to be more persuasive, should be more 
extemporaneous. No one will conclude that in the use of 
this expression, we plead for less preparation ; we ask only 
for more freedom in presenting the fruits of previous study. 



BY THE MINISTRY. 147 

We would have the lamp still used ; but we w^ould have it 
less perceptible. 

For instance, why should there not be more freedom of 
person and action 1 Some persons, on passing from the 
vestry to the pulpit, are actually so changed in appearance 
as scarcely to be known as the same. And the chief evil 
is, that the change is usually not an improvement. Fully 
we understand how it is, that true feeling of our message 
should raise and solemnize the manner of the speaker ; but 
why should it give a manner frigid, constrained, and unnatu- 
ral 1 Why should the eye lose its light, the features their 
flexibility, the hands their motion, and the whole person its 
grace, just when the word to be delivered might be thought 
to breathe into them the life of inspiration ] When the 
living word was committed to our hps, w^as it not meant to 
be uttered by living men rather than by an automaton 1 
There needs higher preparations ! The spirit is bound, and 
the outward man but expresses its contortions. 

But more particularly, why should the fruit of our stu- 
dies for the pulpit be WTitten and read ? We speak not of 
special occasions, but of the ordinary discharge of the min- 
istry. We are satisfied that the renewed tendency to this 
practice in our day is a retrograde, and not an advancing 
movement. It it said to supply the means of more correct 
statement and profound thinking. Occasionally it may 
have this advantage ; as a habit it scarcely can. He who 
writes every thing he says, must write in haste ; and look 
rather to the end of his task than to care in its execution. 
He has the trouble without the benefit. He writes; but 
without time to mature his thoughts or to improve his 
style. 

Besides, the time consumed in manual exercise prevents 
him, by meditation, conversing with himself; or, by read- 



148 ITS ADVANCEMENT 

ing, becoming familiar with the thoughts of other men. 
The mind is little cultivated ; it is meagre and barren ; it 
is wearied and worn by mere mechanical service ; and its 
productions are cold, feeble, and artificial. We have ob- 
served carefully its influence here and in America; and 
these we think are its tendencies. The least that can be 
said of the practice is, that it is inefficient. 

This is the faith of the world. Do they trust their vital 
interests in the senate and at the bar to written speeches 
and reading advocates ? Would they tolerate read 
speeches, even in their theatres? Would it be suffered in 
the pulpit, if men were as fully interested in their spiritual 
as in their temporal welfare ? Least of all does it suit our 
engagements. It is the chief cause of constraint in man- 
ner; and it is fatal to vivacity, freedom, and emotion. Our 
service should be free as air. Whatever our preparations, 
there should be sufficient spontaneity and aptitude to put 
ourselves at once into fellowship with the people. We 
should think with them ; feel with them ; become one 
with them; and existing appearances and impressions 
should at once be made tributary to our designs. Our 
word should dwell in the heart; and the heart should 
dw^ell on the lip ; and the lip be touched as with a living 
coal from the altar. Our communications should have all 
the freshness of a revelation, and all the vitality and reality 
which are found in " fear, and trembling, and tears." 

Such was the ministry once ; and such it must become 
yet once more. My brethren, we shall never go into the 
Millennium with read sermons and read prayers ! Imagin- 
ation is versatile ; but it is difficult even to imagine Paul, 
or Peter, or Timothy reading a sermon, or repeating a pre- 
composed prayer. " Where the Spirit of the Lord is, 
there is liberty." Our modern methods are the sign and 



BY THE MINISTRY. 149 

the cause of weakness and degeneracy. We must have a 
ministry free, disencumbered ', relying on the heart and on 
God, not on the memory and the manuscript; breathing of 
life, love, and heaven ! 

10. To be more persuasive, our ministry must be more 
catholic. In opinion it should be so. The mind should 
seize on great truth, and be satisfied with it. We are sent 
to preach the gospel ; it should be enough for us. We 
must not allow secondary considerations to rank with such 
as are primary, nor magnify trifles into importance. The 
good minister has not time for it — has not heart for it. 
Those who commune with the little, will disqualify them- 
selves for the grand and eternal. Many have dwelt so 
long and so fondly on their peculiarity, that inconsiderable 
as it was, it has become their gospel, their glory — and 
their shame ! The little in no sense suits the^character of 
our ministry nor the claims of our times. 

To be great, the ministry must be magnanimous. It 
must live, not for sect and party, but for man and for God. 
Points of difference must be seen for confession, for humili- 
ation, not for strife ; points of agreement must be resolutely 
made the centre of unity, fellowship, and co-operation. All 
who are not against us are with us and for us. 

In spirit the ministry requires to be more catholic. 
Many, who are not bigoted in opinion are close in affection. 
They care for their own things — their own charge — their 
owm section of the church — their own personal gratification 
in service ; and seldom do they travel beyond this limited 
circle. 

These limits, however, must not confine us. There 
may be much of piety mingled with such habits, but there 
is also much of selfishness. We must come forth from our- 



150 ITS ADVANCEMENT 

selves — forth from the little circle of daily effort. We 
must participate by fellow feeling in the common weal and 
the common wo. We must rejoice in every good word and 
every .good work ; and bless the lips that uttered it, the 
hands that performed it ! The circle which bounds the 
entire family of the faithful must be the limit of our fellow- 
ship ; and the circle which bounds the world the limit of 
our benevolence. A minister of Jesus Christ is of no 
country ; he lives for mankind ; and while he is indifferent 
to the happiness of any human being, he wants the spirit 
of his office ! 

In action the ministry should be more catholic. Such 
devotedness as the Romanist yields to his church from fac- 
titious motive, we should yield to our Lord and Saviour 
from purer principle. It should be implicit, cheerful, abso- 
lute; so complete as to induce a forgetfulness of our own 
interests, and an abandonment of our own will ; and leave 
us but one end in life — to live for Christ. Considerations 
of place, time, manner, should not even be placed in the 
scale, against the simple claims of duty. If it is my duty 
to labor abroad, in foreign and barbarous climes, I must be 
prepared cheerfully to go there, though all my preferences 
should be at home ; and if it is my duty to labor at home, 
I must be equally ready, though all my preferences should 
be abroad. He is prepared to labor nowhere, who is not 
prepared to labor anywhere for Christ. 

In expressing this devotedness, the minister needs to be 
eminently 'practical. Of all subordinate qualities, nothing 
is more requisite to the ministry, as a means of usefulness, 
than the principle of adaptation. It should be bland, pliant, 
sagacious, and generous ; readily accommodating itself to 
all circumstances and all persons. We are to become all 
things to all men for their salvation. We are " to sow be- 



BY THE MINISTRY. 151 

side all waters ;" to have a facility in the appliance of all 
means that may bring us to our object. We must be the 
slaves to no habits of our own, to no prejudices of others. 
We must accustom ourselves to all modes of composition 
and of communication likewise. Preaching itself admits 
of far more variety than we think. It is not necessarily an 
exercise in the pulpit ; nor of a prescribed length ; nor of 
a continuous character, without pause or interruption. To 
be available, especially with the missionary and evangelist, 
it must often be brief, admitting of pause and question ; and 
frequently running out into the freedom of conversation and 
personal entreaty. Our ministry must be above mannerism. 
Like the ministry of Providence, it should be single in prin- 
ciple, various in action ; free, elastic, mighty ; contracting 
to the least, comprehending the greatest, to secure one sim- 
ple but magnificent issue. 

11. Who, then, my brethren, ah, who is sufficient for 
these things ? If the defects of the existing ministry are so 
many and so palpable; if the qualifications for a successful 
ministry are of such high and excellent order ; whither can 
we look but with utter despair 1 Are we not shut up to 
one final conclusion, that this ministry can be only sustained 
safely to ourselves, beneficially to the world, by a larger 
communication of the Holy Ghost 1 The whole subject is 
spiritual; what can we know, what can we do, without the 
Spirit ? If ordinary Christian life is characterized as living 
in the Spirit, walking in the Spirit, being led of the Spirit ; 
how much more must he whose office it is to impart this 
life to others, require to dwell in the Spirit ? Too care- 
lessly — perhaps profanely — many, on entering this ministry, 
have said they were moved by the Holy Ghost ; but full 
certain it is, that none can rightly enter, except as he is so 



I 



152 ITS ADVANCEMENT 

moved ! Who shall reveal to us a spiritual world ; bestow 
spiritual qualifications, and secure spiritual results, — who, 
but the Spirit of God ? The natural world was without 
life, and void, till he moved over the waters and the dry 
land ; and the whole moral world is dark and dead, except 
as enlightened and vivified by his grace and presence. 

What hope brightens on our path, as we look up from 
earth and ourselves to this Blessed Spirit ! This is His dis- 
pensation, in which He is to be pre-eminently glorified. To 
act without Him at such a period, or to despair of his pres- 
ence and power, were alike presumptuous wickedness. He 
is freely promised to us ; yea such is the grace and cer- 
tainty of the promise, that we are commanded to be " filled 
with the Spirit." 

To receive the Spirit, by large and copious fellowship, 
"would put an end to the deficiencies we deplore, and bring 
to us the qualifications for which we sigh. We should be- 
come new men, totally unlike our former selves. All that 
was diflScult, and even impossible, to us before, should be- 
come easy and delightful. He would be in us as the Spirit 
of wisdom, of love, and of power. What light of life, what 
power of faith, what bliss of love would be ours ! What 
patient diligence, strict fidelity, tearful tenderness, persua- 
sive words and freedom of action ! Filled with the Spirit, 
we should rise into a superior region of spiritual life, and 
should move amongst men with the serenity, facility, and 
power of an angel for their salvation. 

Such a ministry, thus qualified, would not merely be 
prepared for success ; it would secure it. It would be ad- 
mirably, fully adapted, to revive religion where it was, and 
to advance it to the extremities of the world. Could we 
only suppose that all who now bear the ministerial office 
in the various portions of the Christian church were thus 



BY THE MINISTRY. 153 

renewed and qualified for the utterance of the Gospel, what 
could we want beyond it 1 It would break on a dark 
world like the light of morning and of spring, the promise 
of a bright and blessed day. The earth should be clothed 
with beauty, and the heavens suffused with glory. The 
habitations of men should become the dwelling places of 
purity and peace, love, joy and melody. The Lord, the 
Saviour, should descend in majesty, attended by the myriads 
who ministered to His coming, to dwell amongst men -, 
and a cry, like the sound of many waters, should go up 
from the redeemed family in numbers innumerable, to meet 
him in the air — ^' Lo ! this is our God ! we have waited for 
him." Lo ! this is our God ! " we will be glad and rejoice 
in his salvation." 

in. 

It remains for us to glance at the motive which should 
stimulate us to fulfil this ministry. " Knowing the terror 
of the Lord, we persuade men." 

1. Respect is had in the first instance to our Lord and 
Saviour. He, counting you faithful, put you into this min- 
istry. He is to be regarded supremely through its whole 
course ; and to him an exact account of the trust is ulti- 
mately to be rendered. You cannot for a moment be at a 
loss to know what is its character, or what the spirit in 
which it is to be sustained. It is the ministry of reconcili- 
ation, and it is to be fulfilled in the spirit of reconciliation. 
By all means, as in Christ's stead, you are to seek to re- 
concile sinful men unto God. This is His supreme desire, 
and it must be yours. It must give dignity to the least, 
and unity to the various, effort you put forth in his king- 

8 



154 ITS ADVANCEMENT 

dom. To this end Providence ministers, and angels joyfully 
minister. For ^this prophets have taught, apostles have 
labored, and martyrs have bled. For this, oh, strange to 
tell. He, the Lord of life and heaven, came dov^^n to earth 
— and toiled, and w^ept, and died. And nov^ that he has 
ascended in glory to the heaven whence He came, this is 
the burden of his intercession, and the high purpose of his 
government. He died, and He hves, to seek and to save 
them that were lost ! 

And can you want a motive to live and die for the 
same beneficial purpose? Would you find pleasure in 
pleasing Him who hath called you to this ministry ? Would 
you give to his mind a satisfaction as exquisite and deep 
as were .the sufferings he bore, bring to his footstool and 
his fold the soul that was lost, but is found ! Oh, that 
ever it should be in the power of a human being, while 
seeking to confer on his fellow the highest benefit, to im- 
part also richer satisfaction and joy to his Maker and Re- 
deemer ! 

2. The passage, so far as it respects time, points to the 
judgment. Although the terrors of the Lord have occa- 
sionally swept over the earth, it has been rather to inti- 
mate a judgment still to come than to supersede it. That 
is, by emphasis, the great and terrible day of the Lord ; 
terrible, because universal; terrible, because righteous; 
terrible, because final ; terrible, because eternal. 

To that day you must come ; in that judgment you 
must stand. The commission you now hold you must then 
resign. Your Lord and Judge, whose flaming eye you 
must then confront, will then demand of you — ** What hast 
thou done with thy talents? Where is thy flock, thy 
beautiful flock ? Give an account of thy stewardship." 



BY THE MINISTRY. 155 

For^ each and for all, you must then render account ; 
motive as well as action will be weighed in the balance ; 
and one brief sentence, without appeal, will reveal your 
real character and everlasting doom. Ah, would you find 
mercy of the Lord in that day — would you meet it with 
joy and not with grief — place it ever before you — watch 
and labor, labor and watch for souls as they who must give 
an account. 

3. The passage has respect to the fact, that those to 
whom you commend the word of Hfe will appear in the 
judgment, and that many will be unprepared to meet it. 
Can you doubt it ? And should it not always be present to 
you 1 However successful your labors, you cannot hope 
that all will be brought into a state of salvation. Many 
whom you entreat will not be persuaded. They will, per- 
haps, wait on your ministry with respect ; they will be 
spectators of your performance from formality, or for 
amusement ; you may be to them as one who playeth skil- 
fully on an instrument ; they may reward you with their 
plaudits, perhaps w^ith their affection ; but they decline to 
accept your message. You cannot recover them from the 
world, or awaken their attention to the realities of the life 
to come. Oh ! how will you bear to meet them, bow will 
they bear to confront you, in the final judgment ! 

See, where they stand in the presence of their Judge ! 
Familiar to your eye still, and yet how changed ! They 
are at last awake to the claims of the eternal world, and 
the unutterable misery of their own condition. Silent, de- 
jected, shuddering and self-condemned, they are waiting the 
last sentence which is to unfold and fix their doom for ever. 
The righteous Judge raises his hand, and opens his lips and 
says, " These shall go away into everlasting punishment." 
"What wail is that ! What curses are those ! What vain 



156 ITS ADVANCEMENT 

entreaties — what bitter regrets— what awful blasphemies ! 
See how they look around in wild despair for help, for 
hope, in vain ! See how they cling to each other as they 
fall away from the presence of the glory — struggling yet 
falling — struggling yet falling — from deep to deep — from 
darkness to darkness — down to eternal night ! Oh ! what 
would you not do to save them ! And will you not do 
now what you would do then ? " Knowing the terrors of 
the Lord, we persuade men." 

4. The passage points also in another direction. It sup- 
poses that the minister /limse//" is unprepared for the solemn 
scrutiny of the Judgment. It is difficult, indeed, for a con- 
siderate and candid mind to recur to the fact, that many 
under his charge will perish, without feeling himself more 
or less implicated in their state. They may have perished 
through his unskilfulness or negligence. True it is, that if he 
have done all in his power for their salvation, he is clear of 
their blood. But how much is comprehended in that 1 Who 
shall venture to think that he hath done all that he could ? 

But even the ruling principle of ministration might be 
wrong. You might be conscious of diligence, of power, 
and even of usefulness, beyond many. You might be dis- 
tinguished and honored through life ; and close it with 
satisfaction and hope. It might require the revelations of 
the last day to undeceive you. Oh ! what confusion 'to 
look for the first time on the countenance of the Judge and 
the Saviour, and to see it clothed with silent displeasure ! 
What can it be ? " Lord, Lord," you venture to plead, 
" have I not spoken in thy name, and in thy name done 
many wondrous works ?" 

" Inasmuch as thou didst it not to me," He replies, " thou 
art condemned." 

" Have I not," you say, " upheld thy truth on the earth, 



BY THE MINISTRY. 157 

and zealously sought to promote thy kingdom to the last ; 
and have not many sinners been turned from their ways'?" 

" Inasmuch as thou didst it not to me, thou art con- 
demned." 

" Have I not," you still urge, " given myself to char- 
ity ? — Have I not fed the hungry, clothed the naked, heal- 
ed the sick, and visited the captive in his bonds ?" 

" Inasmuch as thou didst it not to me, thou art con- 
demned — Depart !" 

Depart ! What ! just when looking on heaven, to meet 
despair ! Just when expecting the living honors of im- 
mortality, to be overwhelmed with shame and everlasting 
contempt ! What ! after having saved others, to be your- 
self a cast-away ! Oh, agony of agonies ! Oh, horror of 
horrors ! What are crashing worlds and a dissolving uni- 
verse to you — except you might die with them ? Depart ! 
Ah ! anywhere would you go to mitigate your wo, to hide 
yourself from the face of the Lamb — to darken those burn- 
ing lights of conviction which leave nothing to hope or to 
fear! But you cannot go. The terrors of that hving 
frown, the gnawings of that awakened conscience, are 
with you still — they will never leave you — they make a 
present and eternal hell ! 

My soul, are these things possible ? Is it possible to 
maintain the truth of salvation in the spirit of falsehood ; 
to utter literally and fully the mind of God, and yet to fall 
under his displeasure ; to work good in the earth, and yet 
to be denounced as " the workers of iniquity 1" Is it pos- 
sible that many, many who hold this ministry may fulfil it 
with honor and applause on earth, only to be overwhelmed 
with final and aggravated disgrace ! Can there be an ad- 
ditional motive to holy fear and resolved fidelity to our 
Saviour, which his mercy has not supplied 1 " Our God 
is a consuming fire !" 



158 ITS ADVANCEMENT BY THE MINISTRY. 

5. It is justly supposed in the passage, that this pleni- 
tude of motive can only be efficient as it is known. It ex- 
ists alike for all, but all are not alike susceptible of its power. 
They know not the terrors of the Lord. A cold ad- 
mission of the truth, here, is not knowledge. The term is 
emphatical. It is not only knowing, but seeing — not only 
seeing, but appreciating ; it is knowledge which settles in 
the heart as a vital principle of action. The terrors of the 
Lord must be present to us, not with slavish fear, but by 
intimate contemplation and deep fellowship. He who 
ministers in this vocation should be awake to the imusible 
state, and commune with invisible realities. He should 
live already in the world to come, and should descend only 
to warn and bless the inhabitants of this world, which is 
passing away. He should move as under the eye of God, 
and determine on the great and the little in the balances 
of eternity. He should preach as within sight of the cross, 
and as the w^itness of its bitter agonies. As though he 
heard the rising wailings of the lost, as though he caught 
the living harmonies of heaven, as though he stood already 
in the Judgment, surrounded by all its terrors ; so should 
he vindicate the ways of God to men — so should he exhibit 
to them the method of his redeeming mercy ! 

Behold, then, your ministry ! It is charged with the 
only elements of life and salvation to a lost world. Behold 
the spirit in which it is to be fulfilled — persuading men as 
though your salvation were bound up in theirs. Behold 
the motive avhich is to constrain you through the whole 
service — your Saviour's approbation — the bliss of his 
smile, which is more than life — the terror of his frown, 
which is more than death ! Be thou faithful I 



LECTURE VI. 



THE ADVANCEMENT OF RELIGION 



IN THE CHURCH. 



LECTURE VI. 



ITS ADVANCEMENT IN THE CHURCH. 

" Sanctify yourselves^ for to-morrow the Lord will do won- 
ders among youP 

These words express a Divine command. They are 
addressed to Israel. God is about to fulfil his highest pro- 
mises to them as a redeemed people ; and with the most 
glorious displays of his power. He demands devout atten- 
tion and universal preparation to wait on the wonders of 
his hand. 

We are discoursing on the advancement of religion. 
Not Palesti;ie, but the world, is now promised to the church 
for a possession. The time is come, we think, in which 
God is about to honor his promises, and glorify his name, 
by doing wonders on the earth. At such a time the church 
is to be full of wakeful expectation, and most solemnly and 
exactly is she to prepare to meet her God. 

It is for us, in this exercise, to consider in what chiefly 

THIS PREPARATION MAY CONSIST. 

^ By the church, of which we have to speak, we refer 
not to place, but to living and renewed men ; we refer not 
to party, but to principle ; and, at this time, we have re- 
gard rather to primary than secondary principle. We de- 
cline all the limitations which Denominational terms might 
supply, as the invention of men ; and we comprehend in 
the true church all who sincerely believe in our Lord 
Jesus Christ, and who are concerned to assemble together, 

8* 



162 ITS ADVANCEMENT 

under his authority, to profess his name, and advance his 
kingdom. Whatsoever is of the world, is not of the church ; 
and whosoever is not of this world, is essentially a member 
of the one redeemed church. It is throughout this church, 
whatever its existing dimensions, that true religion and piety 
are to be advanced, if the church shall become a prepared 
instrument for their further advancement over an opposing 
world. Let us give ourselves prayerfully to the subject, 
under the guidance of those lights which the Holy Scrip- 
ture supplies. 



I. 



In the first instance, then. Religion must be advanced 
in the church by a thorough conviction of 'present deficiency 
and sin. 

A sense of defect is the parent of all improvement. 
Something is attained, but much more is not yet attained ; 
the past, therefore, is comparatively forgotten, and hope 
and effort are stretched out to the promising future. This 
is the great motive power through all the classes of active 
life. Men aspire to advance on their condition, from dis- 
satisfaction with their present state. 

But is this spring of action strong in the bosom of the 
church ? It is impossible to have observed carefully on 
her real condition, without being urged to a negative con- 
clusion. Her temper is generally boastful and self-compla- 
cent. If this is at all qualified, it is not by the spirit of 
pervading piety ; its check is rather found in the intestine 
jealousies which disturb her own body. She looks rather at 
what she has, than at what she is. She is carried out of herself, 
but is not lifted to heaven. She flatters herself on her num- 



IN THE CHURCH. 163 

bers, her means, her sacrifices, and her success. The little 
circle she occupies is to her the world ; she is its centre ; 
and all who behold her do so with admiration and confidence. 
Yet is the church, for all spiritual purposes, in a misera- 
ble state of deficiency. Weak in knowledge, weak in faith, 
weak in charity. Faintly she sees the things which are 
spiritual, and faintly she feels the impulses of the world 
to come. She has little fellowship with the mysteries of the 
gospel, the hidden life of Christ, or the love of the Spirit. 
Her high calling has scarcely power to raise her above the 
clamorous vocations of earth ; and her glorious destination 
is well nigh lost in the present glitter of worldly vanities. 
Action is her boast ; but if strong in action, it is mostly 
as action may find its succor in vicious motive. If the 
occasion is public and ostentatious, she has energy enough 
and words enough ; but if it is retired and noiseless, is she 
as well prepared ? What multitudes would fly together at 
the shrill call of party ! How many would wait on the 
gentle counsel of charity ! Sacrifices, yea splendid sacri- 
fices can be made if they shall be registered and applauded ; 
but would the Saviour be deemed a sufficient witness of such 
transactions ? Her energies may be finely displayed on the 
platform; but where are they at the prayer meeting ? In 
fact, the church is weak in proportion as she is called to 
act in her true character ; and so dark is she that she nei- 
ther apprehends her own weakness nor the strength of her 
adversaries. 

It is needful to mark, not only the general deficiency 
of the church, but those particular sins which stain her 
beauty and leave her prostrate before her enemies. 

Heresy must be regarded of this number. We refer not 
now to every shade of error ; but to such error as is of fatal 
character, and is working extensively on the vital interests 



164 ITS ADVANCEMENT 

of the Christian community. To confound the righteous- 
ness of Christ with the fruits of faith ; to confound the rite 
of baptism with the regeneration of the Spirit ; to substi- 
tute the outward forms of religion for the life and power 
of godliness; to abuse the marvellous grace of the gospel 
to purposes of sloth and licentiousness ; are not these 
cardinal errors ? Do they not prevail extensively in the 
professing church ? Yea, do they not at this hour so pre- 
vail, as to make it fearfully evident, that within the nomi- 
nal church more are lost than are saved 1 

Schism is another sin of which the church must stand 
convicted. It is a rent ; a rent in the garment which 
should be entire ; a separation in the fold which should be 
one. Does it not prevail throughout the Protestant church, 
like an infectious disease, till scarcely any seem free from 
its spots 1 Is there any end to sects and names, and divi- 
sions and animosities ? Has not almost every man his in- 
terpretation, and his phrase, and his caste, in which he w^ould 
remodel to his own taste the heavenly forms of the divine 
truth? Is not altar raised against altar; chapel against 
chapel ; college against college ; and is not each one zeal- 
ously condemnatory of all others 1 

It is not for me, in this place, to determine the propor- 
tions of blame. There is sin — awful sin somewhere. If 
none may be quite purified, in this low state of the church, 
from the spirit of schism, the fact of schism must rest chiefly 
with those who require more than Christ requires ; who 
dare to ask for other terms of communion than he has made 
terms of salvation. Where, however, so much is wrong, 
the first impulse of the heart should be that of sincere 
lamentation. 

Such evils imply a state of great uncharitahleness. But 
religion is love ; and the church is meant to be a region of 



IN THE CHURCH. 165 

love. Envy, strife, hatred and malice, may rage "without ; 
but within the sacred inclosure should reign undisturbed 
charity and peace. The ties which bind Christian to Christian 
are supreme, and they should prevail against all separating 
influences. Is it so ? Is the love of Christian to Christian, 
and of one community to another predominant ? Yea, does 
it exist 1 Are not our churches, not only in a state of 
separation, but of opposition ? Do they not bite and de- 
vour and crush each other 1 Can they, though calling 
themselves brethren, communicate together 1 Can they 
pray together ? Can they unite to honor and circulate the 
word of life, which they yet acknowledge as the only rule 
of action and the single remedy for a lost world ? Is not 
their want of charity, not to the alien, but amongst them- 
selves, the standing reproach of the world, and to this day 
the chief cause of its infidelity ? 

Formality is another evil that obtains fearfully over the 
church. Religion is life ; formality is death. It is death 
under the profession and guise of life. It is an insult to the 
truth and the spirituality of God. It may prevail where 
the forms adopted are few and scriptural, as well as where 
they are injuriously multiplied. Free prayer may be for- 
mal ; attendance on the living ministry may be formal ; 
yea, the ministry itself, though meant to quicken all other 
things, may be overlaid by a heavy formality. If this is 
so, can we doubt its prevalence 1 How do even the best, 
continually incline from the spiritual to the material and 
formal ! What multitudes satisfy themselves entirely with 
the outward act of prayer, of communion, of honoring the 
Sabbath ; and through their whole profession have no sense 
of God and no fellowship with him ! So prevalent is it, 
that it gives the character to the church. It is the region 
of death, rather than of spiritual life. It has a name to live. 



166 ITS ADVANCEMENT 

but is dead. There, where God is professedly most honor- 
ed, he is in truth most grieved and offended. He abhors 
the sacrifice and the service from which the heart is ab- 
stracted. 

Finally, worldliness must be noted as the sin of the 
church. A worldly church, it must be admitted, is a 
strange contradiction of terms ; nevertheless, it is needful to 
describe the fact. Religion is purely spiritual ; and the 
church, as her visible representative, was meant to be pure- 
ly spiritual in her character, her institutions, and her influ- 
ence. She was not to come into junction with the world, 
but to stand in opposition to it ; and by the power of her 
heavenly character, to subdue and renew the world to her- 
self. Instead of this, however, the church is so degenera- 
ted, that she admires the world, and covets its favor. A 
large portion of the church is not only in alliance with the 
world, but in bondage ; and we have that monstrous state 
of things before us, in which the less is served by the great- 
er, in which the spiritual is suboidinate to the secular, in 
which religious appointments are made from political con- 
siderations and by political personages. It is as if the earth 
ruled the heavens ! Never may the day come when such 
as are fee shall yield themselves to such ignominious bonds ! 
Soon may the time arrive when such as wear them may 
loathe them, and cast them off for ever ! 

But the spirit of the world is of more subtle operation ;• 
and from its insinuating power what portion of the church 
shall claim exemption 7 Is it not in us as the spirit of 
slumber, and indiflference, and covetousness ? Does it not 
make our Sabbaths a weariness, and our days of gain our 
days of highest gratification 1 Does it not leave our graces 
weak, and make our devotions almost indevout 1 Does it 
not oppress us wdth anxious cares, and lay us open to the 



IN THE CHURCH. 167 

ensnarements of earthly pleasures ? Does it not overlay 
the church as with moral paralysis, leaving it powerless, if 
not lifeless, for all spiritual purposes 1 



11. 



These partial illustrations lead the way to another re- 
mark, that the real advancement of the church must be 
found in profound repentance. 

This state of defect and sin is not only to be so far ad- 
mitted as to be placed beyond the reach of doubt or denial, 
it is to dwell in the mind, and fill the heart. Not only 
must it be received and confessed without reluctance, with- 
out extenuation, and without excuse ; it must be seen and 
felt with all its peculiar aggravations. Evil is evil any- 
where ; but it acquires fearful virulence and enormity in 
the church. Sin in the church is sin in the presence of 
light, sin in the presence of holiness, sin in the presence of 
God. It is sin in the saints — contrary to profession, con- 
trary to privilege, contrary to the most sacred engagements. 
Nowhere — neither above nor beneath — is it found in such 
disastrous conjunction. In no connection has it such power 
to dishonor God, or to crucify the Prince of Life, and put 
Him to public shame. It is this that prostrates the church, 
and renders her the scorn rather than the admiration or 
terror of her enemies. 

Behold, then, the first great duty of the church — it is pen- 
itence for sin. She must burn with indignation at the sight 
of her sins -, and with zeal to cast them out for ever. Her 
sins — her errors, her divisions, her worldhness, her ingrati- 
tude, and her unprofitableness— must be seen in all the 
lights of peculiar aggravation. They must be laid to heart. 



168 ITS ADVANCEMENT 

and deeply pondered. She must mourn over them with 
godly sorrow, and still mourn. She must behold them 
with a pierced and broken heart, and still lament that it is 
not broken. She must covet as eagerly a state of abase- 
ment and humiliation, as she once coveted the place of dis- 
tinction and dignity. She must lie down in her nothing- 
ness, at the feet of her Saviour, conscious of infinite want, 
and infinite unworthiness. She must place herself with 
perfect submission in his hands ; yet with unutterable de- 
sires, that that gracious hand would in some way mould 
and fit her for his service and praise. 

Many things may contribute to prepare the church for 
usefulness ; but this chiefly. She may want other things; 
but this is her first want. She must pause here. Nothing 
else must she do till this is done. To begin amiss is to go 
progressively wrong. The first, second, and third thing, 
the church needs, is penitence — profound penitence for sin. 



III. 



Renewed engagement with God would be a natural ex- 
pression of advancement in religion, and the means of its 
promotion. It would arise, whatever might be the mode of 
its expression, from that penitential state of mind which 
we have been contemplating. The attention would be fixed 
on God — his excellence and his claims ; on ourselves — our 
follies, our mercies, and our obligations. Our thoughts 
would be thrown on the past and the future ; and would 
commune with better men, and with better periods of the 
church. We should pant to be advanced nearer to them, 
nearer to God, nearer to heaven, by renewed faith in the 
Lord Christ. By penitence we should have given up our- 



IN THE CHURCH. 169 

selves to Him and to his service ; and this consciousness 
would encourage us to take Him as our God and Saviour 
for ever. The freshness of His love would come over us ; 
we should be confirmed in assurance and obedience. God 
would be to us a God, and we should be to Him a people. 
When such engagements have received a more formal 
and visible expression, they have been denominated cove- 
nanting. Some affecting instances of such exercises are 
placed on record in connection with the Jewish church. 
Nor have they been absent from the better dispensation. 
The first engagement indeed of the first disciples was of 
this character, although it has not fallen under this appel- 
lative. They were together in one place, with one mind, 
continuing in humiliation, prayer, and solemn devotedness, 
for ten whole days; and the descent of the Holy Ghost 
crowned their meeting. Our own land, if not our own 
times, has supplied us with more recent, and scarcely less 
affecting, examples. To see thousands, yea, myriads of 
the saints, assembling under the power of one living in- 
tense purpose, mourning over their defection from the God 
of their worship, and panting to come under new engage- 
ments to himself and his service ! — to see eyes unused to 
tears weeping freely from the sense of sin ! — to see hands 
that never trembled, even when they grasped the sword, 
now tremble from a sense of frailty, as they are lifted to 
heaven, and seek to rest on Omnipotence ! — to see men, 
women, and children, in the face of persecution and regal 
tyranny, flocking to the gravestone of their fathers, to sign 
the renewed covenant to God, and sometimes with the blood 
drawn from their veins ! What a scene were this ! How 
vital all ! — how thrilling all ! It must compose a crisis in 
personal or collective life. The heart and spirit are melted 
down ; old sins are cast away ; the chain of habit is fused 



170 ITS ADVANCEMENT 

and broken ; lights break in on the mind which usually it 
cannot command, and could not bear ; and character, pre- 
viously good, is raised to a new and more blessed eleva- 
tion — another step in its approximation to the skies. 

Is it not remarkable, that the church should have be- 
come a stranger to engagements more or less of this dis- 
tinctive, earnest, and renewing character; yea, that it 
should have become the subject of calm inquiry, whether 
they are needful or desirable ? She must need them ! Not 
to supersede or disparage ordinary means, but to infuse fresh 
life into them. Can such corruptions as hers be purged 
away ; such inveterate habits be broken ; such painful er- 
rors be corrected, but by special grace ? And is special 
grace to be expected in the indolent use of ordinary means 1 
Special circumstances justify special means. Not to guide 
himself, but to guide us, God has determined to reach cer- 
tain ends by certain instrumentality. He may convert the 
world to himself by any means ; but he will never use the 
church to effect this work, except as she is fully prepared 
for it. She may look long, and look in vain, to do any 
great service for Him without extraordinary humility for 
her sins, extraordinary prayerfulness for His help, and spe- 
cial and thorough devotion of heart, life, and substance, to 
His glory. " This kind goeth not forth but by prayer and 
fasting.'* 

After all, it may be gratifying to many to observe, that 
it is not so much the creation of other means that is need- 
ed, as that we should direct those to which we are accus- 
tomed to higher objects. Our wisdom is not in multiplying 
means ; so that we secure the end, the fewer the means, 
the greater the sagacity. Why should not the more inter- 
esting opportunities which occur to us be distinctly directed 
to nobler purposes 1 Why should the opening of a new 



IN THE CHURCH. 171 

house of prayer be used rather for raising money, than for 
reviving religion ? Why should provincial associations 
meet to provide for the wants of their district, and not first 
and chiefly to provide for their own ? Why should our 
great annual assemblies be so much the scene of bustle and 
of business, and so little of calm, earnest devotion, as if the 
advancement of religion in the world could be secured by 
any other means than its decided advancement in ourselves ? 
It is a mistake — utterly a mistake. We must look higher, 
and we shall get more. Wealth will come when w^e are 
poor in spirit ; and success, as we are prepared by a mor- 
tified spirit to bear it. The secondary will wait on the pri- 
mary ; but if the primary is neglected and despised, the 
secondary will not be available. We may go on to accu- 
mulate means on means, and agency on agency, till they 
are stupendous to look upon ; but they shall be like Eze- 
kiel's machine without the living eyes and spirit that moved 
it ; great, but unmanageable and useless — the monument 
at once of our labor, our folly, and our unbehef ! 

IV. 

The advancement of religion must be sought in resolved 
union among the saints. 

Religion is one — essentially one. Its natural and ne- 
cessary tendency, therefore, is to bring its subjects into a state 
of unity. The opposite of this oneness, whatever may be 
the gloss or guise it wears, is selfishness — the gross selfish- 
ness of our fallen nature. In both aspects of the subject, it 
is evident that the spirit of union is inseparable from Chris- 
tian life. Without it, we are not Christians ; and the 
church is only advancing in religion as she advances in 
union. 



172 ITS ADVANCEMENT 

Can any thing more fully expose the real weakness of 
the church for all purposes of usefulness 1 Religion is one ; 
but she is not one. Her enemies are one ; but she is not 
one. She would have others unite themselves to her ; 
meantime she is not in union with the members of her own 
body. She would bind the world to the car of the Redeem- 
er, and she would do this with a cord of sand ! It is this 
that has given chiefly such an air of ridicule and such a 
character of crime to most of her efforts to propagate the 
gospel amongst men. 

At least, this may point us to a cardinal duty. He 
who w^ould appropriate to himself, or receive from others, 
the glorious name of Christian, should greatly labor for the 
unity of the Spirit. He should jealously watch against all 
those seeds of selfishness and worldhness which have a sep- 
arating influence ; and he should labor for that ample 
measure of religion which would make a state of union not 
only easy, but indispensable. Christians are essentially one; 
and they should labor to be visibly one. Theirs should be 
that unity of faith which excludes heresy ; that unity of 
heart which excludes schism ; that unity of hfe which ex- 
cludes formality ; and that unity of affection which excludes 
uncharitableness. It should be more than this. Theirs 
should be the love — deep, earnest, inviolable — which should 
cast out the evil passions ; which should raise them supe- 
perior to earthly distinctions, and the accidents of time ; 
which would make them inseparable from each other, as 
they are inseparable from the love of Christ. 

Some think such union impossible. They take counsel 
with their own weakness, not considering the power of 
God. None, we believe, would plead for that unity which 
would annihilate the distinctions of character; and every 
thing short of this is promised by the word of God, and 



IN THE CHURCH. 173 

may be expected from the nature of religion. In every in- 
stance of true conversion, the principle of union to Christ 
and to every disciple is established in the heart; and it is 
only for it to be expanded and matured, to realize all that 
is desirable on earth or enjoyed in heaven. 

Others have ventured, with more perversity, to question 
"whether, in present circumstances, a more complete state of 
union is desirable. They are ready to allow, that men are 
now greatly under the influence of mixed and corrupt 
motive, and that, were they left to the action of only pure 
principles, much of the good that is actually done would 
remain undone. Their inference is, therefore, that, as the 
church is, more of union, if practicable, would not be salu- 
tary. What is this but to tolerate evil that good may 
come ? Is it not enough that sin is in the church ; must 
we become its apologists 1 True it is, that God may over- 
rule the workings of corrupt passion and selfish divisions ; 
but does this render them either useful or innocent ? This 
were indeed to reverse all our rules of righteous judgment, 
and to ascribe to sin the very qualities of hoHness. Away 
with such plausibilities. Disunion is sin — only sin. It is 
a good thing that men should dwell together in unity ; it 
is an evil thing that they should need the constraint of cor- 
rupt motive so to do. It is right that the minister should 
preach Christ, though it be of strife and envy ; but his un- 
godly motive is still his shame and his condemnation. 

Union then is the present claim on the church. With- 
out it, she has not the mind of her Saviour, and cannot be 
pleasing in his sight ; nor can she bring enjoyment to her- 
self, or conviction to the world. Every one professing to 
be of that hallowed body — the body of Christ — should 
chiefly resolve to put forth his utmost effort for this blessed 
and promised unity. We must no longer excuse our divi- 



174 ITS ADVANCEMENT 

sion and jealousy, as incident to this low estate of the church, 
but denounce and abhor them. We must not wait hope- 
lessly for more agreement, in order to more union ; but 
must seek for union as the path to a better understanding. 
One half the differences between one portion of the church 
and another would die away, hke the mist, as we approach 
them ; and the remainder would take a right and diminish- 
ed position. 

If, for the present, we cannot realize what we wish, let 
us have what we may. Especially let us look well to it, 
that there is no impediment in us — that we are in full readi- 
ness to come at once into a state of union. Let animosi- 
ties and contentions prevail as they may, this is our indi- 
vidual and instant duty. Not for the world, my brethren, 
would I hold a pulpit which I could not throw open to any 
man of any name, of whom I believed that he truly uttered 
the gospel of Christ. Not for the world would I stand in 
fellowship with a particular church, which excludes any 
other believer from its fellowship. Let all (he saints de- 
termine to receive all whom Christ has received ; to love 
all whom Christ loves ; and to commune with all who 
dwell in the communion of the Holy Spirit ; and we shall 
soon get rid of our differences ; as soon shall we dispose of 
the revived but worn-out pretensions of apostolicity ; and, 
what is more, we shall have inflicted a fatal wound on that 
carnality and selfishness of our nature which yields them 
nourishment. 



V. 

Religion may be advanced in the church by thorough 
sympathy with the ministry of the word. 



IN THE CHURCH. 175 

We have already dwelt on the ministry itself as a 
means to this end. Although the very chief, it can do lit- 
tle alone. The success of its operations is meant at every 
step to bring around it an accumulated power, by which it 
is to act on the world for its salvation. This povsrer lies in 
the church. If we would have the ministry to be suc- 
cessful, we must identify ourselves with it. We should be 
one with it in design. We must not be content, as many 
are, to wait on it, to criticise, to admire, or to condemn. It 
is not the institution of man, at which we may, at our 
pleasure, seek either our instruction or amusement ; it is an 
appointment of God for the salvation of men ; and we must 
cultivate a living fellowship with its commission, under the 
full persuasion that the world will never be converted with- 
out its agency. 

We should be one with the ministry in prayer. Prayer 
makes one. It should be the great bond of attachment and 
union between the minister and the people. A rightly dis- 
posed ministry would be not merely sustained — it would be 
inspired by it. Nothing can exceed the solitude of the man 
who stands before an indifferent or curious assembly ; nor 
can any thing exceed the bliss of him who is conscious, that 
every sentence he utters is borne to the conscience and the 
heart, by the concurrent prayers of a whole people. 

Yet do not misapprehend the subject. It is not for his 
personal happiness and private welfare that the prayers of 
the church are thus sought. It is for him as the servant of 
God, and holding a ministry, which is charged with life or 
death to all whom it addresses, that he seeks, and that he 
needs your prayers. And judge not of his need of your 
sympathy and prayers, by what you know of his studies 
and of his labors for your good, however arduous and con- 
tinuous these may be. It is not these chiefly that break his 



176 ITS ADVANCEMENT 

rest, exhaust his spirits, and not unfrequently brin^ him 
down in early life with gray hairs to the grave. No : it 
is his intense anxiety for your welfare ; it is his trembling 
fear lest he should say any thing amiss, or not say enough 
in uttering the great message ; it is that sense of responsi- 
bility to God which often chokes his utterance in prayer, 
and quivers through his flesh in ministration ; it is that in- 
expressible anguish, when the fear comes over him, that 
after all he can do and say, some of you will be cast out, 
and cast down to darkness, death, and eternal despair ! 

The church should co-operate with the ministry. There 
are manifold ways in which this may be done. We should 
be careful to preserve right impressions amongst ourselves. 
If conversation is to be maintained after worship, it should 
be kept to the subject on which we had meditated, and 
should have a tendency to preserve the same character of 
impression. It is not enough that we should avoid levity 
of speech and worldly gossip. I have seen the entire effect 
of a most solemn public exercise dissipated in five minutes, 
by such intercourse as might still be regarded as both inno- 
cent and friendly. Especially if the mind is conscious of 
having been particularly interested, there should be the 
fixed determination to cherish the impression, and by retire- 
ment if possible. From the want of this, many do always 
resist the Holy Spirit, and harden their hearts, as in the day 
of temptation in the wilderness. 

We should have a similar regard to the profit of others. 
The present service may not have brought any marked 
good to ourselves, but it may have greatly affected others 
around us — perhaps the young, our children, or our domes- 
tics. To discover at such a time little interest ourselves, 
would tend fearfully to diminish their interest ; and at a 
moment, perhaps, when their salvation was trembling in 



IN THE CHURCH. 177 

the balance. How important to give it the right inclina- 
tion ! It is thus that in the hands of the parent or the 
friend, the faithful servant has, in a thousand instances, either 
lost or found its proper issue ! 

Over such as we know and may influence, we must 
watch with tenderness and solicitude. We should be quick to 
mark attention ; pray for just impression ; put ourselves in a 
state of common feeling with them ; and give them every fa- 
cility to cultivate and nourish the seed which has been sown. 
Especially they should be encouraged to retire. It has long 
been the understood rule of a family, under my observation, 
that on returning from the evening service of the Sabbath- 
day half an hour shall be allowed to every member for re- 
tirement. All the family, with one exception, have made 
full profession of religion. This single regulation, simple 
as it is, would do more for the ministry than we are pre- 
pared to think. 

Generally, there should be mutual and affectionate over- 
sight prevailing in the church. Oversight is, indeed, the 
duty of the ministry ; but not exclusively. In a more 
private circle, we are to sustain the spirit and the intentions 
of the ministry. The church is one body, and each mem- 
ber has a vital interest in the health and welfare of the 
whole. We are to watch over each other for good : to 
warn, rebuke, comfort, and edify one another, even as we 
do, and much more abundantly, that we all may be pre- 
sented a glorious body to Christ. 

What might not be expected from the ministry, if it 
were thus supported 1 Little, however, of good will come 
even from a faithful ministration if it is allowed to stand 
alone, without sympathy and co-action. The ministry, in 
fact, not only gives, it tal^es a character from the people. 
Hence, it becomes the feeble, worldly, showy, unprofitable 

9 



178 ITS ADVANCEMENT 

thing we sometimes find it — any thing but the ordinance of 
God for the conviction and salvation of men ! 



VL 



The advancement of religion in the church is to be re^ 
garded with enlarged expectation. 

Hope is the genius of religion. Religion is one 
grand promise of the restoration of all good to him, who 
has lost and forfeited all by sin. That promise is of 
infinite import, and it is more certain than the ordinances 
of heaven. As time rolls away, its accomplishment ap- 
proaches. What but hope — expanding hope — is adapted 
to the position of the church, or the revelation and promise 
of heavenly mercy ? 

Yet, to many, the time to which they are come is full 
of fear. They have received the spirit of bondage again 
to fear. They are full of apprehension for the church, and 
all the great interests of liberty, truth and righteousness. 
They cannot see when good cometh ; but the dread of evil 
is near to them. While contemplating changes which 
they admit as needful to the regeneration of the world, they 
fear lest they should suffer some private inconvenience, 
some temporal loss ! Oh, fear is base, is worldly, is selfish ! 
Fear nothing for the church : the gates of hell shall not 
prevail against her. Fear for yourselves, brethren, lest a . 
promise being given of the coming kingdom of heaven, you 
should fail to enter through unbelief ! 

Was ever the church in such circumstances of outward • 
weakness and fear, as in the infancy of her time ? Was 
she ever animated, as then, with ardent and enlarged ex- 
pectation ? And was not ev^ry hope surpassed unspeak^ 



IN THE CHURCH. 179 

ably by the manifestations of the might and majesty of 
God? 

And shall the church know no other Pentecost 1 Yes, 
she shall. Her career is one of perpetual progression. 
Brighter and yet brighter days await her. The light of the 
moon shall be as the light of the sun, and the light of the 
sun shall be sevenfold. Scripture teems with the blessed 
assurance ; nature is moving in grandeur to its accomplish- 
ment ; Providence, with its significant finger, is indicating 
its approach. The whole creation groaneth, waiting — 
expecting — the manifestation of the sons of God, and the 
glory of their inheritance. 

Hope, then, becomes the church. In the midst of dark- 
ening skies, and clashing opinions, and even of partial dis- 
aster, let her clothe herself with hope as with an invulner- 
able garment. Indulge great hope. Expect for yourself 
a measure of light, and holiness, and joy, which you have 
not known. Expect for your family, that they shall be all 
born of God, and be enrolled amongst the living in Jerusa- 
lem. Expect that the church shall become one in faith, in 
heart, and in action, a purified and spiritual body, filled with 
all the fulness of God. Expect that the dark forms of evil, 
which abound in the world, shall cower away before the 
risen glories of the Sun of righteousness — that a second 
time the Creator and Redeemer shall say, Let there be 
light, and there shall be light. 

Oh, there is renovation in hope ! We become the things 
we hope to be. To abound in hope, is to abound in ser- 
vice, and in suffering, and in joy. It not only sustains us 
as we are, it inspires us with additional and celestial life. It 
bears the martyr to the stake, the hero to victory, the Chris- 
tian to heaven I Have hope, great hope ! " Sanctify your- 
selves, for to-morrow the Lord will do wonders among you." 



180 ITS ADVANCEMENT 



VII. 



It is evident that the state of mind of which we are 
discoursing, would necessarily develope itself in correspond- 
ing fr ay er fulness. 

Prayer is necessarily and happily connected with every 
view we can take of the advancing power of religion. But 
we are in danger, when caring much for the act of prayer, 
of neglecting its quality. It is not always enough that it 
be true prayer. In looking to special results, prayer should 
have a special character. The prayer which respects 
steadily the advancing spirituality and devotedness of the 
church should at least have two properties. 

It should be emphatically the prayer oi faith — that 
prayer which sees God, which recognises his promises, 
and which can entirely rest on their unchangeable truth. 
It must be that believing prayer which abandons and abhors 
every other trust, that it may honor God by a complete and 
implicit confidence. Such a mind will get near to God. 
All means and instruments will become as nothing in His 
presence. After all that the minister has pleaded, with 
tears it may be, the suppliant is satisfied that it is utterly 
in vain without God. After all that the church has done 
or can do, he is convinced that not one step of real pro- 
gress can be made without God. He is shut up to the 
mercy and truth of God. His life is there, the life of the 
church and of the world is there. He waits only on God, 
but wuth infinite desire and satisfaction. 

Such prayer would disclose another quality. It would 
be persevering. Faith cannot relinquish its grasp. It must 
have what it seeks. It continues, therefore, to ask till it 
obtains. This is what is meant by perseverance in prayer. 



IN THE CHURCH. 18 1 

This is necessary, but it is rare. Many are fitful in 
prayer ; many tire in prayer ; many continue for a time, 
and then cease to pray, or cease to have life in prayer, for 
the objects of desire. This is not perseverance. Perseverance 
in prayer yields to no difficulty, no discouragement, no di- 
version. What it asks, God only can give ; it is of unut- 
terable importance ; it must ask it till it is possessed. This 
is the prayer which moves the hand of Omnipotence, — 
to which nothing is denied. 

This is the prayer, then, that we need in the church. 
All her circumstances are special, and the spirit of grace 
and supplication in her must be special. After all that has 
been urged on this vital subject, and with occasional earn- 
estness by many, how little does the prayer of the church 
take this character ! How few Christians devote an hour 
specially to any great object of prayer, and maintain it be- 
fore them till prayer is answered ! You desire the salva- 
tion of a beloved child ; but have you thus prayed for it ? 
You desire the success of the ministry ; but do you retire 
from it to the closet, and in agony of spirit wrestle for the 
blessing 1 You long for union amongst the disciples of the 
same Lord ; but do you seek it in special, persevering, 
tearful prayer 1 You labor for the salvation of men ; but 
is zealous action sustained by prayer equally zealous ? Yet 
this is the way which God hath chosen. 

God will honor them that acknowledge him, and con- 
found such as neglect him. A poor but pious woman, in 
her last painful affliction, received kind attention from a 
young person. She was the more touched by her contin- 
ued kindness, because, while acting a Christian part, she 
was opposed to religion. She asked herself, what she 
could best do to show her gratitude. She would seek her 
salvation. She set herself to pray for it day and night, 



182 ITS ADVANCEMENT 

and that she might see it before she departed. She just 
lived to witness her conversion to Christ, and admission ta 
the church. 

In one instance, true religion was kept alive in an im- 
portant congregation for many years, while suffering from 
an heterodox ministry, and the prevalence of worldliness 
and formality, by the concerted prayerfulness of five female 
members, who agreed to meet together especially to pray 
for the recovery of the church. They lived to see an or- 
thodox ministry restored, and the church recovered to her 
first love and first works. 

It was once asked of a leading agent in the formation 
of one of our earliest Misssionary Societies, how it began. 
The reply was, " In prayer, sir." " And how has it been 
sustained 1" " With prayer, sir." *' And what has most 
contributed to its prosperity ?" " Prayer, sir." 

Many things avail ; but fervent, spiritual, persevering 
prayer excelleth them all. 

I have thus endeavored to bring together, without en- 
cumbering the subject wath numerous observations, such 
particulars as are essentially comprehended in a revived 
state of the church. Could there be such conviction of de- 
fect and sin ; such penitential humiliation on its account ; 
such solemn and renewed engagements with God ,* such 
determined union amongst the saints ; such sympathy with 
the living ministry; and such believing prayer for the 
presence and glory of God; apart from an advanced state 
of religious life and enjoyment ? 

Such a church would at once be most blessed in her- 
self, and the prepared instrument of blessedness to others. 
All the sources of weakness and sorrow should be dried up ; 
and all the graces of the Spirit should find their richest 



IN THE CHURCH. ]83 

manifestation. Heavenly light, cordial piety, and devoted 
action, should equally prepare her for Divine fellowship 
and benevolent service. Every excellence would be there; 
and, as the parts of one body, each should fulfil its separate 
and united function, under the impulse of one principle of 
vigorous life. The church should sit as a queen ; her eye 
knowledge, her voice melody, her hand charity, and her 
bosom the dwelling-place of purity and love. Her rule 
should be righteousness ; her subjects innumerable -, truth, 
mercy, and peace should wait at her feet ; and her praise 
should be in the gates. Many should come to gaze on her 
beauty, and glory, and riches ; and, bowing down in her 
presence, should confess that the half had not been told. 
The Lord of heaven, for her sake, should once more revisit 
our world J and saints and angels should unite in the one 
acclamation, " The tabernacle of God is with men on the 
earth, and He will dwell with them !" 

Oh, that the day — the day on which all things wait — 
were come ! 



LECTURE VII. 



THE ADVANCEMENT OF RELIGION 



BY THE CHURCH. 



LECTURE VII. 

ITS ADVANCEMENT BY THE CHURCH. 

^* Arise, shine ; for thy light is come, and the glory of the 
Lord is risen upon theeJ^ 

In the last Lecture, our remarks were limited to the ad^ 
vancement of religion in the church ; we are now to con- 
sider its extension by the church. While treated sepa- 
rately, I trust you will at once see their connection. It is 
indispensable. The church is commanded to arise and shine, 
because her light is come. The obligation springs from 
the privilege. A dark church cannot shine on others ; a 
barren church cannot fertilize others ; she cannot give what 
she has not. The possession and enjoyment is the first 
great claim. 

On the other hand, what she has received she is bound 
to bestow, and she is to expect that it will be even multi- 
plied by distribution. Supposing, then — we fear, in many 
cases, it must still be a supposition — supposing that religion 
is in a happy and advancing state within a church, that 
church, in the same measure, is qualified to advance it else- 
where, and is solemnly bound to engage itself to this end. 
Let us, then, proceed to ascertain how the instrumentality 
of the church may generally be best employed in this service. 

L 

Then we remark, that religion may be advanced by the 
full exhibition of Christian character* 



188 ITS ADVANCEMENT 

Character is composed from a man's usual principles, 
habits, and conduct. It has great power, whether for good 
or evil. We are always feeling it ; and are insensibly re- 
sisting or yielding to the influence which it throws around 
us. Place a youth of good education in society with the 
worldly or the wicked, and he is in a state of strong temp- 
tation. Let him yield himself to confiding and familiar in- 
tercourse with such society, and it is almost certain that he 
will become as themselves. In every time, thousands have 
been thus ruined ; and it has been proverbial to remark, 
that " evil communications corrupt good manners." 

Christian character, also, has power. It is peculiar and 
elevated ; and when clear and consistent in its expression, 
must awaken either opposition or admiration. It is meant 
to be a means of grace to the w^orld of the highest order. 

What is the Christian ? He is a spiritual man ; his 
mind is enlightened to apprehend the most sublime truths, 
and his heart is sanctified to the love of heavenly things. 
He is habitually superior to the worldliness and selfishness 
by which he is surrounded. He is redeemed to a spiritual 
life by the most marvellous exercises of mercy ; and he 
yields up his life a willing sacrifice to his gracious Redeem- 
er. His is truth without change ; humility without seem- 
ing to be humble ; and charity without limit or ostenta- 
tion. He cannot condemn others, for he is the chief of 
•sinners ; he cannot be vain of himself, for he is the least of 
all saints. His benevolence melts into tenderness over all 
human suffering; and his integrity binds him to act in the 
solitude of the counting-house as though a thousand eyes 
glared on his transactions. He commits his way in life, 
and the burden of his cares, to Providence. Light are his 
sorrows, for they shall soon cease ; great are his joys, for 
they are just begun, and shall abide for ever. He, and he 



BY THE CHURCH. 189 

alone, is "patient in hope, rejoicing in tribulation, enduring 
in temptation, as seeing him who is invisible." The invisi- 
ble life daily brightens on his sight, and nourishes his ex- 
pectations. In death, he loses nothing — he gains every 
thing. Earth was his place of toil j his rest, his home, his 
heaven, are with God. 

Is this a slight outline of Christian character and con- 
versation ? Could it be seen without impression ? Is there 
any thing like it in the world 1 Would not the force of 
contrast, equally with the power of character, awaken at- 
tention, and fasten conviction on the observer ? Two 
worldly men were recently referring to such a person, all 
of them being engaged in a line of business peculiarly ex- 
posing them to temptation. The one made a passing ap- 
peal to his conduct. " Oh," exclaimed the other, slight- 
ingly, " he is a Methodist." " I don't know," was the re- 
ply, " what religion he is of; but this I know, that he is a 
right good man, and there are very few like him !" Ah ! 
that was a fine testimony against the world, and for the 
Christian, and by a worldly witness. 

Now, supposing the Christian character, in its integrity, 
benevolence, and spirituality, were distinctly put forth, not 
by one, but by thousands — supposing it prevailed so fully 
throughout the church, as to give it, if not a perfect, a 
predominant expression — what would be its amount of 
influence ? 

Character has not only power — it is most powerful ; 
and it is by this moral power chiefly, that the world is to 
be subdued to Christ. Could it only find a clear and com- 
bined expression in the church, we should not have to ask 
for other means of conquest. She would be as a "living 
epistle, known and read of all men." Yea, she would 
stand before the world and her enemies as an array which 



190 ITS ADVANCEMENT 

hath banners ; terrible from her unity of purpose, accumu- 
lated numbers, and exact movements. 

Many a battle has been lost or won before a blow was 
struck ! One army has carefully observed another ; and 
the evident array of its numbers, the perfection of its dis- 
cipline, the strength of its position, and the abundance, of 
its means, have at once carried despair to the heart of the 
enemy. It was then, when the spirit quailed, that the bat- 
tle was decided. So shall the church conquer ! The 
strength of her enemies is found in her own weakness. 
When once she shall appear before them in her spiritual 
excellence, her united power, and harmony of action, hope 
shall die away within them. She shall be " as the face of 
God," and none shall abide her coming ! 



II. 



A devoted observance of Christian institutions, would 
contribute to the advancement of religion. 

We refer to the sacraments and the Sabbath, to the 
preaching of the word and to prayer. These give a visi- 
ble existence to the church before the world ; and they are 
brought under the eye of the world for its conviction and 
salvation. Every saint should feel himself bound by this 
single consideration to be present with the church, as often 
as the opportunity is granted to him ; and, when present, 
to give expression to the sentiments which should animate 
the entire body. Public worship is to be regarded, not 
merely as a means of grace to ourselves, but as a means 
of profession before the ungodly. In this relation, it is of 
unspeakable importance ; but its value depends on its cha- 
racter. Let but the worldling account for all he sees on 



BY THE CHURCH. 191 

any principles of action, with which he is already familiar, 
and the effect is lost. Indifference, formality, the mere en- 
tertainment of the sensual or intellectual man, are fatal to 
justjmpression. 

A stranger enters a society of Christians, professedly 
engaged in the highest service from the highest motives. 
He comes from a cold dark world of w^hich he is half 
weary ; and he expects, at least, to find something different, 
even though it should fail to please him. But every thing 
is as cold and heartless as the world he has left. The 
people cold — the pulpit cold — the very worship cold. He 
leaves with the confirmed and dangerous conviction, that 
with all their pretensions to religion, they are neither better 
nor happier than himself. Such a congregation is respon- 
sible for that impression. 

Suppose a different state of things, — that of a body of 
Christians flowino^ too^ether with evident earnestness and 
zeal. Nothing is common in their temper of mind, or the 
service to which they are committing themselves. They 
are mingling in spiritual w^orship, and are concerned to ob- 
serve it wuth spiritual recognition and enjoyment. They 
are deeply engaged — engaged with God ; engaged with 
the truth in which their salvation stands ; and engaged with 
affectionate regard to each other. They would not but be 
where they are. It is the home of the soul. Love is evi- 
dently the seat of action ; and joy — calm, raised, benig- 
nant — visibly dwells on the assembly. 

A stranger enters such a society. It is a new world. 
The moment he crosses the threshold of the place, he feels 
that he has passed the line separating the visible from the in- 
visible, the temporal from the eternal. Every thing of which 
he is accustomed to think is positively forgotten. All is spi- 
ritual; thought, prayer, aspect — all spiritual. The minister is 



192 ITS ADVANCEMENT 

as if he came from a spiritual world to speak of spiritual 
things. The people, as if they had for the time risen above 
a bodily existence, are intent on the spiritual life, and are 
conscious of the presence of the invisible God. See them ! 
bowed down before the superincumbent glory of present 
Deity. See how they gather round the footstool of his 
throne ! See how they hang on the words of his lips, as 
able to save the soul, and to purify it for his fellowship and 
kingdom ! See how they offer the living sacrifices of prayer, 
of thanksgiving, yea of themselves for gracious acceptance ! 
Is the observer unaffected ? No ; he may resist conviction, 
but he cannot avoid it; he is judged of all he sees. 
" Verily," he says, " there is a God, though I have not ac- 
knowledged him; there is truth in religion, though I have 
doubted ; there is joy on earth which I have not tasted. 
These people are happy ; but for me, what a wretched 
being am I !" 

Such a spirit prevailing over our churches would in- 
stantly change our position in relation to the world. To 
be efficacious, however, it must be uniform, and have res- 
pect to every exercise by which God is to be honored and 
worshipped amongst men. The truly pious have not been 
sufficiently affected by this consideration. They would not 
profane the Sabbath to worldly uses ; yet they are not 
careful to redeem time from the world, to discover their 
love of spiritual services and of the people of God. They 
have despised their own institutions, and then wondered 
that the world despises them. They have preferred the 
claims of the drawing-room and the domestic circle, to the 
house of God and the prayer-meeting. Even the minister 
has been heard incautiously to say, as his reason for absence, 
" It is only a prayer-meeting." There was death in those 
words to those who received them ! 



BY THE CHURCH. 193 

I cannot forbear to connect with the subject an instance 
of more pleasing character. A lady, and a Christian, was in- 
vited by another lady of her acquaintance, to a drawing-room 
party. It was an interesting occasion, and many of her 
relatives and friends were to be there. But it happened to 
be on the evening of the prayer-meeting, when a few (alas, 
too few !) of the church, with their pastor, met together 
for humble worship. She could not hesitate. She wrote to 
decline the invitation ; and, with the candor and courage 
of a Christian, assigned the true reason. It was the night 
of the prayer-meeting, and she could not therefore possibly 
come. " A prayer-meeting !" exclaimed her worldly friend ; 
*' what can there be in this prayer-meeting to induce her to 
prefer it to obliging me, and spending an evening so agreea- 
bly ?" The anticipated evening passed away to both, but 
the effect remained. " A prayer-meeting !" she still ex- 
claimed ; " what can there be in these prayer-meetings to 
outweigh in her mind the most innocent enjoyments of life !" 
She resolved to go and see. The spirit of prayer and of 
love fell on her ; and she now w^alks with her friend to the 
house of God in company. 



m. 



The advancement of religion is to be sought in supreme 
regard to the interests of the church universal. 

This interest must be supreme. We must be one with 
the church. Its estate must be our estate. Yea, her sor- 
row must be more to us than our private sorrow ; and we 
must prefer her prosperity above our chief joy. She must 
be regarded, like the ark floating over the dark and trou- 
bled waters, as charged with all precious things for the reno- 



194 ITS ADVANCEMENT 

vation and hope of a lost world. What power would 
dwell in such a spirit ! When her sons mourned over her 
dust, could she be long in sorrow ? When they took plea- 
sure in her stones, could she remain in a state of dilapida- 
tion ? W^hat could she then want which wealth, or talent, 
or combination, or prayer could secure ? Would not the 
time, yea, the decreed time to favor her, have come ? 

This regard should be universal. Evidently it is not so 
now. Often it is confined to our country. But religion is 
of no country ; and as disciples of it, our affections should 
suffer no limitations. Our common faith and hope should 
make the most distant near, and the most foreign friends 
and brethren. The first church on the borders of China, 
recently formed of seven members, and celebrating for the 
first time the Redeemer's love, should, by sympathy and 
fellowship, be essentially one with the whole church of the 
redeemed. 

Still oftener our affections are confined to our 'party. 
The spirit of party is the bane of charity. Where it is 
strong and exclusive, it is not religious, and is scarcely con- 
sistent with religious character. It is not enlightened by 
religious truth, nor animated by religious motive. Its ef- 
fects, too, are any thing rather than happy and religious. 
It is capable, indeed, of putting forth great energy,, but it 
wants the meekness of wisdom, and fails to commend itself 
to the consciences of men. It does too much and too little 
for the occasion. How many towns have we with five or 
six orthodox places of worship, where one, or at most two, 
would have been adequate ; while the larger towns and 
cities, demanding additional places of our own denomination, 
have been neglected. I have seen in one street of a small 
town four places of worship ; all of them small ; all of 
them badly supplied ; all of them badly attended. There 



BY THE CHURCH. 195 

they stood, not the emblems of strength, but of weakness 
— not of union, but of division. The attendants, if not at 
enmity, were as distant and strange as though they were. 
Each little society was catering for its own little party ; 
and yet, by their own admissions, there were no essential 
grounds of difference between them ! What a spectacle to 
the world ! What a perplexity to the serious inquirer paus- 
ing at the threshold of profession ! What true and en- 
lightened sense could these Christians have of the mission 
of Christ, and of the grace, liberty and spirituality of his 
kingdom ? One place would have comprehended them all ; 
they would then have secured an edifying ministry ; and 
they would have presented to the world an aspect of strength, 
union and inviting benevolence. 

Sometimes our regards are limited even to ourselves. 
The small inclosures of party are too large for the sympa- 
thies of some persons. They are hmited to their own walls, 
and to their single society. If they prosper, they are self- 
satisfied ; if they do not, the prosperous estate of others 
brings them no consolation. Yea, their prosperity may 
spring from the divisions and decay of surroundinglnterests, 
and they may be content to have it so. It is a fearful con- 
sideration for such persons, that such a course as this may 
be sustained by a principle of refined selfishness alone. The 
love of our place, or of our party, may be as void of reli- 
gion, as the love of one's family. We must do more, if 
we would have and give better evidence of religious life. 

An efl^'ort was made recently to raise a chapel in a village, 
which all admitted was exceedingly dark and destitute. It 
was considerable, and expensive, and difficult, and chiefly 
made by persons at a distance. At length the work was 
done; and the place opened under very cheering circum- 
stances. There was, within a mile and a half of this vil- 



196 ITS ADVANCEMENT 

lage, a well-established church and congregation, with 
more than the usual measure of wealth. Neither the minis- 
ter nor, I believe, any of the church or congregation were 
present on the occasion to express unity and pleasure; nor 
was there any sympathy shown in the effort, from the be- 
ginning to the close. If this is to be independent, the 
sooner such independency is repudiated the better ! 

The evil principle which we would condemn has, in 
our time, taken to itself another form yet more remarkable. 
We have not only abounding separation to mourn over; 
we have separation of the most false and outrageous char- 
acter. We have parties in the visible church who are 
united with essential differences, and w^ho are separated 
while holding essential truth. There are, for instance, at 
this day, thousands and myriads of Christians, in the en-- 
dowed church, who are separated from the body of Dissent- 
ers with which they have essential agreement ; and they 
are professedly and practically united with a still larger 
body, with which they have essential differences ! This 
evidently touches at once the question of sincerity ; and one 
must have a large measure of charity, and a large acquaint- 
ance with the subtleties of the human heart, to connect it 
with conscientious conviction, and not with merely worldly 
considerations. 

What a mass of evil is indicated by these allusions ! 
How, in the nature of things, can any good come to the 
world by the church, while they are cherished or over- 
looked ! They must be seen, and abhorred, and rejected. 
Christians must look on the church in her spiritual attributes 
and excellences; they must recognise every spiritual mem- 
ber, of whatever sect, or place, or country, with the name 
and the heart of a brother in Christ. They must renounce 
those worldly alliances and distinctions which corrupt her 



BY THE CHURCH. 197 

faith, and prevent her advancement. They must merge 
their particular good in the general prosperity of the 
church ; and must live and die for its extension and glory ! 
Can Christ and Belial become one ? Can Christian and 
Christian be separated 1 Is Beelzebub against Beelzebub ? 



IV. 



The advancement of religion is to be promoted fty com- 
lined and resolved effort for the expansion of the church. 

This is the one point to which we have been looking ; 
and all the preparation within the church is of importance 
as it finds this issue. Religion, indeed, from its very nature, 
secures this. Only let it be found in a high and and vigor- 
ous state, and the result is, spontaneous expansion. Reli- 
gion is life ; and all life is expansive. The period at which 
it ceases to advance is the period at w^hich it begins to de- 
cay. It is so with the vegetable ; it is so with the animal ; 
it is yet more emphatically true with the Christian. Life 
in the saints is immortal; pause and decline are a violence 
to its nature. Progression — continuous progression — is its 
characteristic. Let it reign in them unchecked, and they 
will be as the trees of a garden, full of life, beauty and 
efflorescence, continually giving and receiving life. " The 
fruit of the righteous is a tree of life." 

L If such life predominated in the church, it would 
necessarily lead to aggressive movement on the world. We 
should not rest within ourselves ; we should not wait till 
men came to us ; but we should go to them ; and compel 
them, by the force of living persuasion and love, to come 
in amongst us. The principle of the great conflict w^ould 



198 ITS ADVANCEMENT 

be that of offence, not of defence. A little war is a costly 
and a dangerous thing. Oar faith is to overcome the 
world ; not to beat it off, but to beat it down, to overconie 
it. To take such an attitude, and not from corrupt consid- 
erations, the temper of the church must be manly, as- 
sured, and devoted in the highest degree. As yet it is 
absent. It is the adversary that is assured, daring, and 
aggressive — the Christian who is timid, silent, retiring, and 
desponding ! Did ever such a spirit lead to victory ? Is 
it not unjust and disgraceful in such a cause, with such a 
leader ? Ours must be, not the spirit of fear which hath 
bondage, and which antedates its own downfall ; but the 
spirit of liberty, of power, and of God ! 

Particularly, by an aggressive movement on the world, 
we mean that the whole arrangements of the church should 
have more decided respect to the world in its unconverted 
state. It should be habitually contemplated as at enmity 
with God ; and the great concern should be its conversion. 
Not to proselyte, but to save. Not to propagate your no- 
tions of baptism, or mine on episcopacy. These may have 
their place, and their time ; but they are secondary. They 
are no part of the line which separates the living church 
from the world dead in sin ; and are not to be named at 
the moment in which men are to be turned to Christ, and 
souls rescued from hell ! To this one great service, the 
ministry, the sympathies, the prayers, and the efforts of the 
church, should receive a more marked and biassed deter- 
mination. 

I must pause here to remark, that great error prevails 
on this subject, and in two great divisions of the church. 
The errors are diverse, but they are working with the same 
disastrous effect. The one lies with the nonconforming 
churches. They sprang up in the presence of bitter hatred 



BY THE CHURCH. 199 

and persecution. Every where they were proscribed ; and 
they lived rather by connivance than by the sanction of law. 
It was natural for them, in such circumstances, to retire from 
public observation into secluded courts and by-ways ; 
thankful if they might still, unknowing and unknown, be 
faithful to their conscience, and in peace worship their Sa- 
viour. They had little opportunity for aggressive move- 
ment; and too readily the mind took a character from 
their circumstances. 

The chief evil is, that, with changed circumstances, the 
unfavorable and depressing habits to a great extent remain. 
It is now indispensable that they be cast away. The cor- 
responding sections of the church in America have a nobler 
bearing, more freedom of thought and action, and greater 
confidence before the common enemy, because they have 
never worn our fetters. Those fetters are goi>e, and the 
freedom of life must be ours. We must come forth from 
our hiding-places ; we must lift up our voice in the streets 
and the market-places ; we must challenge to stand on 
equal terms with the highest and the best. We must utter 
our opinions in the light of day. We must insist on their 
truth and importance, and court inquiry and discussion, 
with the confidence of an assured faith and a triumphant 
cause. 

The other error rests almost exclusively with the endow- 
ed church. To preserve her national character, both here 
and in Scotland, she has fearfully compromised with the 
world. She stands on the supposition, that all born in these 
islands are, by that occurrence, of her fellowship. That this 
is expressed in baptism, advanced in confirmation, and 
completed in death ; that, as of that communion, they live 
and die Christians. This prevailing and destructive delusion 
is noticed here, from its withering eflfect on the church and 



200 ITS ADVANCEMENT 

the ministry. Where all are Christians by birth and bap- 
tism, there is nothing for the church to do; and the minis- 
try may receive any character, but it can never become the 
power of God unto salvation. Regeneration, as it is seated 
in an act of intelligent volition, cannot be even a doctrine 
of such a church ; and deep compassion for the spiritual 
misery of men, and a keen apprehension of their exposure 
to eternal death, are not to be expected. Till this original 
and monstrous error of the papacy be utterly cast out, that 
church can have no power with the world, except one de- 
mon could be supposed to expel another demon. 

2. This expansive life should permeate through all ex- 
isting means. This is a matter of first necessity. In this 
day much anxiety is shown for new and additional machinery 
in the service of religion. But what we chiefly want is, a 
new spirit of grace infused into the means we have. ■ 

Of the ministry we have spoken separately. It is first 
in order and usefulness. Nothing can advance but as it 
advances. It has mostly led the way to defection and er- 
ror; and it, by the baptism of repentance and the Spirit, 
must lead to high and noble achievement. The education 
for the ministry must receive a consideration which has not 
yet been awarded to it. Particularly general and profes- 
sional studies must be more distinct ; and those which are 
strictly professional must claim to have a larger measure of 
attention. Our students must not feel, that they are thrust 
on pubhc life with the knowledge of every thing, except 
the work they have to do, and the world by which they are 
surrounded. The college must stand in closer connection 
with the church. The lower class of motive relied on in 
seculiar studies — emulation and vanity — must be denounced 
as vicious. Every thing must be subordinate to the forma- 



BY THE CHURCH. 201 

tion of ?L spiritual ministry; and, by whatever means secured, 
there must be a better acquaintance with pastoral duties, 
prior to assuming the pastoral office. 

Our schools for the instruction of the young stand next 
to the ministry. They are the nurseries of the church, and 
they will be the church of the next age. They should be 
eminently of a scriptural and religious character. They 
should comprehend all who need education, and can be 
brought under its influence — the infant, the child, the youth, 
the adult. Such schools as are taught on the Sabbath should 
receive, as much as possible, the character of Bible classes. 
The secular elements of learning — writing, reading and 
figures — should be entirely excluded, except a case of posi- 
tive necessity could be established. The greatest care should 
be taken, that the scholar may distinguish between his daily 
instructions, and the more sacred exercises of the Sabbath. 

In the Sabbath schools the teachers should all be pious 
and voluntary. The classes should be small, so as to allow 
the mind of the teacher to operate forcibly on the mind of 
the taught. The object should be throughout the salvation 
of the pupil, and this, not to be realized in years to come, 
but now. The great means to this end should be the dis- 
tinct presentation of the wonderful facts of our redemption, 
clothed in the earnest solicitude of the teacher. The task- 
like method is death to these exercises. Every thing is to 
be hoped from the sympathy between the child and the 
teacher, and nothing without it. If the teacher trifles, the 
child will trifle still. 

Particular provision should be made to draw ofi^ such 
children as have arrived at fifteen or sixteen years of age, 
into separate biblical classes of higher character. It is at 
this period mostly that they become shy of their classes, 
and break away from their school ; and it is at this period 
10 



202 ITS ADVANCEMENT 

especially we should seek to retain them ; for just then it 
is they most need a guiding hand and a judicious friend, 
and we lose all if we lose them at this time. These classes 
should not be considered children's classes, and none be- 
neath a given age should on any account have access to 
them. The instructor should, of course, be more compe- 
tent, and the mode and spirit of instruction more free and 
confidential. If no decision of character has been reached, 
*' all diligence" — double effort — should be directed to this 
end. It is a fearful thing for the young mind to become 
familiar with Divine truth, without any corresponding im- 
pression ; and the considerate teacher will tremble lest his 
labor should terminate thus. He should be in the habit of 
marking the state of mind ; and whenever it is encourag- 
ing, he should retire with the party for conversation and 
prayer. In these classes much good is to be sought by 
separate exercises with the pupils. In this way their faults 
should always be named ; in this way their state of mind 
should become the subject of prayer ; and in this way the 
pious instructor would acquire such a place in the affections 
of the scholar, as would itself become a means of salva- 
tion. 

It would be out of place in this Lecture to supply a 
treatise on Sabbath schools. These passing suggestions, 
however, if always before the mind, and fully practised, 
would work not the less powerfully, because they are sim- 
ple and apparent. And ought not the effect to be greater 
and more happy than it is ? Far are we from depreciating 
the usefulness of the Sabbath school ; but surely when we 
look at the size of the field, and the greatness of the labor, 
we must all lament, that with so much culture there has 
been so little fruit. We might have reasonably expected, 
that had the work been generally done in the right spirit, 



BY THE CHURCH. 203 

earlier conversions would have abounded, and large and 
triumphant accessions would have been made to the church. 

The free circulation of religious tracts and of the Holy 
Scriptui'Bs is another means now in general use. This is 
sought to be effected, by a number of pious persons in a 
church banding themselves together, for the benevolent 
purpose of enlightening the neighborhood in which they 
meet for worship. They visit the inhabitants from house 
to house, lend them tracts, and induce them to subscribe for 
the Bible ; and seize the occasions thus created for profita- 
ble conversation. 

I This is a simple, cheap and admirable method of useful- 
ness. It, however, requires care in the administration. 
The persons thus engaged, should be generally approved 
for their standing, discretion, conciliatory manners, and be- 
nevolent piety. Above all things, they must be deeply in 
earnest, or their manner will make difficulties, and difficul- 
ty will overwhelm them. 

They must on no account be contented with becoming 
lenders of tracts, and vendors of Scripture; these transac- 
tions must merely open the door to usefulness. They must 
secure conversation ; conversation must be carried out, at 
least where there is any encouragement, into sustained in- 
tercourse ; and having got so far, they must not, if possible, 
leave the house till they have brought to it salvation. Cir- 
culating, rather than stationary, pray er.meetings should bein- 
troduced to the courts and streets where most encouragement 
is given. At the more eligible and needy parts of the district, 
rooms should be secured for a Sabbath school, and occasional 
exhortation and prayer ; and where real good is done, it 
should be carefully protected by communion with a well- 
established Christian society. 

It is impossible to conceive of such a method being 



204 ITS ADVANCEMENT 

rightly and extensively worked, without remarkable results. 
It W'Ould restore the broken links between the lower and 
superior classes ; it would rouse the indifferent from their 
apathy, and oblige them to meet the call of religion with 
a negative or an affirmative ; it would satisfy thousands of 
desolate spirits that there were some who cared for their 
souls; it would fill our schools and chapels, and contribute 
to restore us, by primitive means, to a more primitive state 
of the church. 

Our Anniversaries, County Association and Missionary 
Meetings, are of frequent occurrence and of extraordinary 
character. 

Our Anniversaries are, over the whole country, very 
numerous; and they bring many Christians and ministers 
together. They should be occasions of spiritual advance- 
ment, but they have little of this tendency. The day is 
used by our people very much as one of animal enjoyment, 
and they have feeble desires for any thing beyond it. At 
best, they meet with a benevolent desire to aid a weak 
cause ; and are pleased with themselves for having done 
it. There is no set purpose to make the day contribute, 
as it might, to a more decided expression of Christian life. 
"While these opportunities are so numerous and even so im- 
portant, and while many of our ministers find it their duty 
to give to them so large a portion of their time, how few 
conversions can we connect wdth them ! Is not this chiefly 
because neither ministers nor people meet, at such a time, 
with the serious expectation, that God will visit them w^ith 
a remarkable manifestation of his grace ? And yet the oc- 
casion is exhilarating ; when it occurs in a village or small 
town it excites great attention ; it supplies an opportunity 
for conference and prayer, and for an appeal to many who 
do not usually wait on the Gospel ; and it ought to bear 



BY THE CHURCH. 205 

Other and richer fruits than those of temporary pleasure, or 
a seasonable money contribution. 

The County or District Association is an occasion of far 
greater importance. It exists for the advancement of re- 
ligion ; and, undoubtedly, it has worked beneficially to this 
end. But the question is, has it accomplished what might 
fairly be expected from it 1 We think not. We have fre- 
quently looked with admiration on these assemblies of saints 
and pastors, and have silently said, What power is here ! 
while they perhaps have seemed nearly unconscious of its 
presence. The meeting is sustained on too limited a prin- 
ciple. If there shall be a considerable muster of persons ; 
if there shall be a hearty exchange of friendly and hospi- 
table sentiment ; if a fair contribution shall be reported to 
the funds of the Association ; general satisfaction prevails. 
This is a good meeting. 

It may even happen, as I have known it, that they 
meet in a town and in a place where religion is exceeding- 
ly low, and division and discord prevail. No attempt is 
made there and then for the revival of religion. Their du- 
ties lie in some distant villages ; and the fruit is to be found 
at some distant day. It does not seem to occur to them, 
that a representation of the rehgion of the county, being 
made to bear directly and powerfully on the place where 
they are met, might accomplish more for religion in two or 
three days, than they would otherwise realize in as many 
years. 

The result is, that our associations are feeble ; feeble 
for the very purpose to which they are looking — that of 
raising means to support dependent interests. The amount 
thus raised, with few exceptions, is too insignificant to be 
named without shame. Would it be so if the system were 
changed ? If it were felt that these meetings were of 



206 ITS ADVANCEMENT 

great moment ? If expectation were awakened to the 
present revival of true religion on the occasion? If they 
were connected with pastoral conference and confession, 
general humiliation and prayer, and stirring appeals to the 
ungodly of the place, — would they be so ? Our conviction 
is, that while they secured a much higher end than is usu- 
ally sought, they would increase the means for the support 
of the gospel elsewhere fivefold ! 

The Meetings which have been found necessary to up- 
hold the great missionary cause have much power ; and 
they have been attended with very beneficial effects, over 
the country. It would be too much to say that they are 
not open to improvement ; and in proportion to our con- 
viction of their power should we desiderate all the improve- 
ment of which they are capable. There is too much hurry 
and bustle, and hasty .transition from person to person and 
place to place, for deep and lasting impression. The spirit 
of the platform is too often worldly and vicious. Better 
feelings are too often overlooked in the inordinate desire of 
money : the spirit of mammon may reign in our religious 
societies as effectually as in the world — but more disas- 
trously. 

The great assemblies of our people have their attention 
turned too much on the state of the world, too little on the 
preparation of the church. They come together with more 
of the holiday sentiment, than with a gathering sense of 
their responsibility to God and man. There is no prevail- 
ing profound sense of the Divine presence ; no such hu- 
miliation before its revealed glory, as makes a vast congre- 
gation feel itself nothing before it ; no living conviction on 
the mind that the good they have come to seek is to be 
found only with God, and that it is their duty to seek it by 
united and extraordinary prayer. Scarcely ever is there 



BY THE CHURCH. 207 

such a state of mind, as would constrain an assembly to 
break off from every other exercise, and ask for prayer, as 
the only means of expressing inward humility, and the in- 
tense desire which would burst the heart if it had not some 
escape. Oh, that there were ! We rejoice in what we 
have ; but we pant for something more and higher. We 
should then not want for means to do the work committed to 
us, nor for consolation in the hope of outliving its difficulties. 

In fact, our associations, and the meetings of our public 
religious societies, seem to have been supplied by Provi- 
dence for an end beyond what we have usually contempla- 
ted — the advancement of religion in ourselves. We are to 
learn, that if they are to work efficiently on others, they 
must first operate by reviving the power of religion in our^- 
selves. It should appear, that they might well take the 
place which was held by the " Four day Sacrament," and 
with advantages which it had not. Over Scotland and 
America, notwithstanding the counteraction of worldly 
patronage in the one case, it has worked with surprising 
power. We need some such more special and comprehen- 
sive arrangements. Our existing societies might seem well 
fitted to supply all we need. If they shall begin at home; 
if they shall regard the advancement of personal religion ; 
if they shall bring the churches into renewed fellowship and 
covenant with God ; and if they, as they circulate, shall be 
made to tell more fully on the careless and ungodly ; they 
may fulfil our best desires for the church, while they renew 
their strength for the conquest of the world. 

At all events, we must have meetings not merely to 
circulate the Bible, to promote missionary objects, and to 
raise money ; but distinctly and directly to revive religion. 
Till the churches have due and primary respect to this, they 
are not to be trusted with any thing beyond it. 



208 ITS ADVANCEMENT 

3. Means which have been neglected, or perhaps not 
recognised, must be employed, and accommodated to cir- 
cumstances. For instance, the church must be imbued with 
the spirit of colonization. The accommodated use of this 
term has been adopted in America ; and it may fairly ex- 
press the object before us. A church regards the neighbor- 
hood by which she is surrounded but neglected, as dark and 
estranged ; and she proposes to send off a portion of her 
own body to enlighten and reclaim it. This is a service 
demanding frequently great sacrifices ; and, if it is fulfilled 
not from party considerations, an eminent state of piety. 
We have had but few examples of it in our land ; and such 
as have been given have not mostly been for our honor. 
The incumbent of the parish resisted the multiplication of 
churches and chapels in his domain, and of his own order, 
as hng as he could ; and the Nonconformist pastor and 
congregation regarded an offset from themselves, as the 
loss of so much blood and treasure. Up to this hour the 
extension of the church, both within and without the pale 
of the Estabhshment, has been effected rather from party 
than pious motives ; more from the spirit of division than 
of love. If pure motive has been left to work alone, it has 
commonly been too weak for the occasion. When this 
method was once explained to a worthy pastor, his candid 
reply was, ^' Then I must confess I have not faith enough 
to make the sacrifice." 

This is just the truth. The service requires faith and 
self-denial ; but these bring with them an unexpected re- 
ward. Indeed, when wisely done, the benefit is in propor- 
tion to the sacrifice ; according to the word of our Lord — 
there is that scattereth and yet increaseth, and he that will 
lose his life shall find it. I am acquainted with no instance 
of loss, but with many of real and abiding profit. I have 



BY THE CHURCH. 209 

known a church during one pastorate make five offsets and 
dismiss above one hundred members on this principle, and 
it has been renovated by the very act. I have known a 
church separate by one act, in a great emergency, sixty of 
her number to form another church, and not feel her loss. 
I have known six young men, humble of heart, but strong 
in faith, devote themselves, wdth the sanction and prayers of 
the church, to establish another fellowship, in a most desti- 
tute station. The parent church has been revived ; another 
church has been formed of equal importance ; and the band 
of men who gave themselves to the work became eminent 
— two of them ministers of the gospel. 

Examples on the other side, alas ! are abundant ; and 
they are not without profit. One instance may be sufficient. 
I know a town with a population of not less than sixty 
thousand persons, in which there is only one congregational 
church. Thirty years ago it commanded nearly all the re- 
ligious attention and influence of the place. Accommoda- 
tion was sought in it, year after year, by a large number of 
persons and families in vain. The minister and church, 
had they availed themselves suitably of the occasion, might 
have multiplied themselves fourfold. It did not seem to 
occur to them, and the opportunity is now gone for ever. 
Others have done the work they should have done, and 
they are the poorer. There is still but one place, and seats 
may now be had at pleasure. 

It were painfully easy to name a score of our principal 
towns, in which similar neglect has been shown, with simi- 
lar consequences. Is not enough stated to awaken atten- 
tion ? Nothing demands it more. This is not merely the 
day for action, but for magnanimous action. He that will 
save his life shall lose it. It is not life to live to ourselves ; 
the church that so lives must die. We must come out of 



210 ITS ADVANCEMENT 

ourselves, and live for others. We must do for Christ what 
we would do for ourselves ; we must do from love and 
good will, what we have done from strife and envy. 

Above all, till our faith is stronger, we may learn that 
our very interests are bound up in this course. In every 
case, in which it is rightly pursued, there is the direct good 
of forming an additional Christian community ; and, besides 
this, there is the benefit of the example to others, and the 
benefit of the reaction on ourselves. A church fulfilling 
such duty is giving healthful exercise to her own princi- 
ples; is placed in affecting circumstances; is training her- 
self to heroic deeds ; and has the blessed consciousness of 
usefulness. She is renovated in grace and in life ! Happy 
are the people who are in such a case ! 

4. Both higher and lower agency are necessary for the 
expansion of the church. We need a lower agency. The En- 
dowed Church is sustained chiefly by the aristocracy ; Non- 
conformity by the mediate classes ; Methodism alone touches 
on the poorer community. Meantime our institutions are 
professedly for the people ; and their efficacy is to be tested 
by their power over the common mind. Up to this moment, 
the common mind has but little sympathy with our wor- 
ship or our doctrine. Nor will they till we come nearer 
to them. 

For this, we need an order of ministration subordinate 
to the regular ministry. It should be taken very much from 
the classes which it is to benefit. Men of similar habits, 
of thought, and modes of speech ; men of superior sense 
and earnest piety ; men answering very much to the local 
preacher and city missionary, only that they should be care- 
fully trained for their specific duty, and should be in full 
communication with the regular ministry. A good use of 



BY THE CHURCH. 211 

their mother tongue, a just knowledge of theology, and an 
acquaintance with the world, should be deemed usual quali- 
fications ; much beyond this would place them too far be- 
fore those they have to teach. They should have assigned 
districts, and should penetrate and cultivate the whole of 
them. Scripture reading and exposition, conversation, ex- 
hortation and prayer, should be their instruments ; and in 
their solitary and self-denying services, they should be sus- 
tained by the sympathy and cognizance of the congrega- 
tion with which they are connected. We have yet to learn 
what benefit would arise to the church from an exact and 
general accomplishment of such a plan. 

We equally need a higher agency. We employ not this 
phrase in any sense which would affect the essential parity 
of the Christian ministry. We seek only to make such re- 
ferences as the following. The church, and the families 
which compose it, should habitually think it their greatest 
honor to yield up the choicest talent and character within 
them to the service of the sanctuary. The course of pre- 
paration should be such as may render them efficient minis- 
ters of the New Testament — able to present the great mys- 
teries of our redemption in such form and power, as may 
bring reverence, conviction, and salvation to the world. 
Some in the ministry should be set free from local claims, 
that they may fulfil a more general vocation. Their ser- 
vices might be invaluable for settling little differences, se- 
curing better provision for the pastor, reviving the state of 
religion, and carrying out the regards of the people beyond 
themselves in general usefulness. 

Many a worthy pastor is oppressed with poverty, while 
delicacy prevents him opening his lips on this subject, 
though faithful to eVery other. A third person would have 



212 ITS ADVANCEMENT 

no difficulty in calling up the attention of his people, and 
in alleviating his burden. 

As many are secluded at a small station, year after year, 
without relief or change ; and it would require peculiar 
character, as well as peculiar grace, to bear up against the 
influence of formality and heartlessness in such circumstan- 
ces. How refreshing would visitation, and sympathy, and 
help, from a distance, be in such case ? Religion, perhaps, 
is fallen, at a particular station, into a low and impoverish- 
ed condition. The minister sees it, mourns over it, and is 
sinking under it, without power to correct it. But the ar- 
rival of a ^stranger and a brother would cheer him, and 
awaken the attention of the church and the town, and a 
new life might begin. 

But illustrations were endless. A minister recently in- 
vited to partake in opening a chapel, received also, on its 
being known, five other applications from ministers and 
churches in the vicinity, to fulfil just such a class of servi- 
ces as we have noticed. Can any thing more fully indicate 
the necessity of some such arrangements ? We boast of 
independency, and we do well ; but let us carefully remem- 
ber, that independent and united action must be present in 
the spiritual, as in the human body, if we would pretend 
either to strength or life, 

5. There should be concerted and determined eflfort to 
secure more of public attention to the claims of religion. 
Here we have great deficiency. Religion is, for the most 
part, exhibited to the religious ; and we have shown little 
care or sagacity in bringing it before the world of .man- 
kind. We must make haste to correct these errors of 
conduct. 

Public discussion may influence public opinion. The 



BY THE CHURCH. 213 

platform is certainly not the best place for disposing of dif- 
ficult questions, and eliciting truth ; nevertheless, it is in- 
valuable for awakening attention, and making impression. 
We must not decline means because we think them less 
perfect than others. If the taste of the people, as at pre- 
sent, shall incline them to prefer public discussion to se- 
cluded inquiry, they must be met on their own ground. 
Truth has nothing to fear ; and the advocates must be care- 
ful to show, that they are prepared to plead for it in every 
place, and under any circumstances. Many subjects related 
to religion, are well fitted to be chiefly sustained by this 
means. What do not the causes of temperance, of the 
Sabbath, and of liberty, owe to it ? Public discussion has 
clothed intemperance, profanity, and oppression with pub- 
lic odium ; and this, beyond ten thousand pledges, has 
given a wholesome character to public opinion. 

The press is the great organ of opinion, and therefore 
of great power. It is mostly with the world. Science has 
done little for religion ; literature has often been hostile, 
and, when not hostile, neutral. The daily and weekly 
press, the chief organ of politics, with few exceptions, has 
been with the world, and in opposition to vital religion. 
Of all other instrumentality it is the most powerful, not 
only from the numbers it addresses, but chiefly from the 
power of iteration it possesses, which of itself is suflBcient, 
with half the community, to give to error the place and 
authority of truth. 

It must be redeemed and dedicated to Religion. She 
cannot prevail alone. She can only prevail by imparting 
her own nature to science, to letters, to civil polity, to all 
the interests of mankind, till they become only so many 
phases of her own bright and heavenly form. All must be 
redeemed. The pulpit, the press, and the platform, must 



214 ITS ADVANCEMENT 

all be consecrated. Men must be fed with knowledge ; all 
that knowledge must be impregnated with religion ; till 
every wave of the great ocean of knowledge, which now 
kisses every shore, be saturated with the salt of the king- 
dom and of life ! 

6. Finally, let me observe, That special means may be 
necessary under special circumstances. They are, however, 
never to be magnified, as of more value than stated means 
of grace. They are of the nature of a remedy, and are not 
to be regarded as daily food. As a remedy they may be 
invaluable. A church may have fallen into a sinful state 
of inattention and unbelief; or great apathy may rest on a 
surrounding neighborhood which nothing ordinary can dis- 
turb. Some special movement may then be the only ap- 
propriate means to excite attention and recover from sin. 
Who shall say that in such and similar invStances, special 
and protracted engagement is not necessary, in the order of 
means, to the proposed issue ? In our opinion it is as much 
the dictate of true philosophy as of true religion. 

Care, however, should be had in the use of such means. 
They should be employed under special circumstances ; for 
a special end ; and laid aside when this end is realized. 
On no account must they be used till they are worn out. 

Nor must they be mystified. Many, under the notion 
of reviving religion amongst a people, have indulged in 
human inventions, or adopted a machinery of their own. 
They have trusted in these, and expected them to work as 
a charm. They have appealed, through methods of their 
own, to the senses and the nerves, rather than to the under- 
standing and the heart. Such a course is to be condemned. 
It springs from vanity, and it will end in vanity and confu- 
sion. 



BY THE CHURCH. 215 

Special effort for the revival and advancement of reli- 
gion does not consist in the invention of new means to the 
end ; but in the more earnest and protracted use of such as 
the New Testament supplies to us. There we find the 
economy of means to be most simple, and yet capable of 
endless application. It is this that composes at once their 
beauty and their power. 

These means are, essentially, preaching and frayer ; 
and all that has passed before us in this exercise may gen- 
erally be resolved into them. Preaching, in the larger 
sense, is the living presentation of Divine truth to man by 
man ; and prayer is the devout mind sensibly resting on 
God for his promised benediction. What more do w^e re- 
quire 1 Give us apostolic preaching and apostolic prayer, 
and we ask no other machinery for the salvation of the 
world ! 

7. But the success of means depends on their use ; and 
without committing ourselves to any nice or subtle ques- 
tions between clergy and laity, we hesitate not in asserting, 
that it is the incumbent duty of every Christian to use them. 
We wish the variety of observation to be concentrated in 
this. It is vital to the subject. When once all Christians 
shall be brought deliberately to admit and feel the obliga- 
tion, and to employ the assigned means as they have the 
ability and opportunity, all that prayer could ask for the 
church would be already granted. 

This has been, and is, our chief defect and weakness. 
It is a great achievement to bring one-third of a congrega- 
tion of professed Christians to feel and to act aright on this 
subject; while the remaining two-thirds hang on their ef- 
forts as a heavy weight and discouragement. The one 
thing we want, then, as means to an end, is that each 



216 ITS ADVANCEMENT 

Christian should so act in this service, as though its happy 
issue depended on himself. Let him consider his talent, 
find his place, and hold it till death. Some can prophesy, 
some can teach, some can write, and some can give. All 
can act, and pray, and suffer, and die for the kingdom. Let 
no one do nothing. Let his hand forget its accustomed 
operation, and his tongue cleave to his mouth, rather than 
he should forget Jerusalem which is from above ! Then, 
when the whole sacramental host of the redeemed and 
elect shall stand forth as a great army — animated with one 
mind, fighting as with one arm — then shall they be invin- 
cible, going from conquest to conquer ! 

And where are we to look for help for the world, but 
in the bosom of the church ? Whatever may benefit man- 
kind is there, and there only. If light is anywhere, it is 
there; if purity is anywhere, it is there; if peace is any- 
where, it is there. All precious things are there. Liberty 
is there ; the truth is there; the saints are there ; the liv- 
ing temple of the redeemed is there ; and there is the Me- 
diator; and God himself is there, dwelling with man on 
earth. All — all are within the church, for the salvation of 
the world. What a vocation is hers ! 

And yet never but once has she been fully sensible of 
it, and fully prepared to obey it. And when was this ? 
Not in the Reformation of Luther, great as it was ! Not 
in the more recent awakening under W^esley and White- 
field ! No ! It was in the pentecostal period of the 
church. Then she was few in numbers and poor in cir- 
cumstance ; but she was entirely separated from the world, 
and entirely united in herself. She stood as a little pha- 
lanx in the midst of surrounding hosts ; presenting a face 
to every foe; sustaining a single banner; and animated by 
one living soul inspired from heaven ; and not until she 



BY THE CHURCH. 217 

was false to herself, did she fail in the presence of her 
enemies. 

Oh ! when again shall that day of union, of faith, of 
triumph appear ? Was it ever so much needed as now 1 
Was it ever to be so much expected as now ? Is not this 
the dispensation of the Spirit ? Is it not the sin of the 
church not to know the day of her visitation ? What ca- 
lamities have come on her — have come on the world- 
through her deficiencies and sins ! Is it not a time to re- 
turn, and to repent, and to do her first works ; as when the 
Spirit of God wrought mightily in her, so that her adversa- 
ries could stand neither before the glory of her face nor the 
thunder of her power ! 

Zion, awake, awake, arise from the dust, and put on 
thy beautiful garments! O Zion, awake, awake, and 
know the day of thy visitation, lest it be hidden from thine 
eyes ! O Zion, the chosen of God, and the redeemed of 
thy Lord j who art the ordained minister of life and bliss to 
a ruined world — who art destined to universal empire and 
imperishable glory, — " Arise, shine, for thy light is come^ 
and the glory of the Lord is risen on thee /" 



LECTURE VIII. 

THE ADVANCEMENT OF RELIGION 
IN THE NATION. 



LECTURE VIII. 

ITS ADVANCEMENT IN THE NATION. 

" Happy is that people that is in such a case : yea, happy 
is that people whose God is the Lord.'' 

We have now to discourse of our beloved country. 
None need, however, fear that our remarks will receive a 
political complexion. Not that we would be thought in- 
different to any subject that even remotely affects the pros- 
perity of our people ; but that our design and the occasion 
raise us above it. We seek to treat at once of higher con- 
siderations, which control and involve those that are less. 

Whatever differences of opinion may otherwise exist in 
relation to our country, all are agreed in believing, that she 
is passing through a great crisis ; and all are afflicted more 
or less with apprehensions on her account. It is not pos- 
sible for the truly patriotic mind to be thus apprehensive 
for the commonwealth, without anxiously looking round 
for some sources of relief ; and these are, in fact, almost as 
numerous as the characters of the persons who seek them. 
Some rest their hope on continued peace, and others on ex- 
tended knowledge ; some recur to freedom, and some to 
political economy ; many make a vague reference to w^hat 
they regard as the inexhaustible resources of the country ; 
and others ask for state grants, and the expansion of the 
endowed church, as the means of our salvation. We also 
have hope for our country j but it is not in the efficacy of 



222 ITS ADVANCEMENT 

these remedies. Our single hope is in religion — ^^'ital, 
active, universal religion. We are passing through a crisis 
which has been fatal to every other nation, and which can 
only become salutary to us by the alterative power of true 
religion. 

Peace is an invaluable blessing ; but4t cannot bring to 
us all the good we require. It has happily been ours for 
a quarter of a century ; and has it not, through counteract- 
ing causes, disappointed the expectations of all ? Besides, 
a breath may break it. Hitherto we have had to struggle 
for its existence ; and it would certainly have perished 
amidst the jarring interests of nations, had it not been sup- 
ported by the influence of religion. 

Knowledge is a ground of hope ; but it alone is not to 
be trusted. Always knowledge is better than ignorance ; 
and we would therefore say, under all circumstances, 
Educate, by all means educate. Yet the lover of his 
country should remember, that knowledge must ally itself 
with principles ; and that if allowed to unite itself with 
evil principles, it has accumulated an awful power to des- 
troy. It is indeed delightfully true, that Knowledge has a 
natural affinity to truth ; but it is not to be forgotten, that 
she is exposed to a strong bias from our fallen nature. 
, Freedom is the boast of many, and they do well to glo- 
rify it. It is the birthright of man ; and without it, it 
were not good to live. But in our imperfect state, is it not 
evident that mere liberty inclines to anarchy and licentious- 
ness ? Has not all history shown, and especially in our 
own time, that a people, to enjoy liberty, must be prepared 
for it ? Can any thing less than religion be an adequate 
preparation ? In proportion as man is in possession of per- 
sonal and social liberty, does he not require, for his own 



IN THE NATION. 223 

safety, that he should come under the control of a law which 
is spiritual, supreme, and eternal ? m 

Political economy is the favorite hope of many. Un- 
doubtedly much is to be expected from the meliorating in- 
fluence of advancing science on our institutions. But poli- 
tics are the morals of nations ; and that would be a strange 
morality which should seek to make its standing good in the 
world, independently' of religion ! If the experiment might 
be favorably tried anywhere, it might be here. But has it 
been successful ? This science boasts of two schools, each 
of considerable pretensions and power. The one is utili- 
tarian, the other transcendental ; the one dwells in mysticism, 
the other in matter^of fact. Both are committed to fatal error 
at the very threshold. They treat of man ; and they mis- 
apprehend man's very nature. With the one, man is a 
machine ; with the other, an angel : with one, he has no 
body, with the other, no soul. Now he is the creature of 
circumstances, moulded by society, and without principles 
or character ; and now he is possessed of all the seeds of ex- 
cellence and perfectibility, and requires only to be relieved 
of social incumbrances to develope them in luxuriance to 
perfection ! And these are amongst the last lights of phi- 
losophy, in the neglect of revelation and common sense ! 

Others recur to the resources of the country, as sufficient 
to recover us to a state of prosperity, and repose on this 
hope as a remedy for all evil. Are we safe in such a con- 
clusion ? Supposing the spring tide of prosperity set in 
on our country, have we no cause for apprehension ? Is 
not prosperity itself one of the severest trials to which in- 
dividuals or states can be submitted ? Have not most people 
found their ruin in it ? Amongst ourselves, has^ not the 
prosperity with which we have been indulged enfeebled our 



224 ITS ADVANCEMENT 

virtues, and given virulence to our vices? Has it not 
already given birth to that luxury, dissipation,'venality, and 
selfishness, which are the forerunners of the state's decay ? 
And is not, at this hour, a superior influence needful to 
arrest us in our downward career ? 

Others there are, who, with more serious views, turn 
from every vain hope to religion; but, weakly trembling 
for the ark of God, they clamor for state patronage and 
increased endowment. We are one with this class of persons 
in their end ; we differ from them entirely as to the means. 
It may be well for them, possibly, yet to pause, and candidly 
inquire, whether the idolized means are the best to lead to 
the avowed end. Does a church grow in spirituality 
and efficiency, as she accumulates wealth and power 1 Can 
a church become the seat of honor and opulence, and yet 
preserve herself, if she would, from the worldly and am- 
bitious aspirant ? Are a people likely to become religious 
by being taxed for religion ? The state establishment of 
religion has been tried over all Christendom — yes, and all 
Pagandom likewise. Has it succeeded ? Is it not, then, 
wise to ask for a more excellent way ? The wisdom of 
man is foolishness with God. 

If is readily admitted of all these methods of cure, they 
are specious, and that they are not void of good to a people. 
What we maintain is, that they are not equal to our neces- 
sities; and that, in the measure in which they are efficient, 
they are dependent on religion for their efficacy. Religion 
alone penetrates to the sources of evil, and purifies the 
springs of action. She not only supplies the just rule, but 
the right and living motive. She alone teaches the lessons 
of patriotism, and, by subduing alike pride and selfishness, 
exalts the mind to noble deeds. Religion would pass over 
our land like an angel of mercy, healing the bitter waters 



IN THE NATIOxN. 225 

of strife, renewing the soul of the people, and preparing 
them, like the eagle, for higher flights in knowledge, virtue, 
and all excellence. Religion is our single, but out sufficient 
hope. 



I. 



The important question then arises. How may true 
religion be the best advanced throughout the nation ? 

If a reply were offered to this question in forgetfulness 
of the former exercises, it would lead to a repetition of 
much that has been already advanced. It is hoped, how- 
ever, that the substance of all that has been stated on the 
advancement of religion in ourselves, and by the church, 
is preserved in mind ; and the present purpose will be, to 
give a degree of completeness to the reply, without enlarg- 
ing on statements which have been distinctly before us. 

1. Then w^e would remark, that religion should be pre- 
sented to the attention of the people as it is. It is not re- 
ligion and something else for w^hich we are to claim notice, 
but religion alone. It is not our sect, our party, or our pe- 
culiarity, that we are to inculcate; it is vital religion, as 
the promise of this life, and that which is to come. The 
moment we descend from what is common to the faith and 
life of all Christians, to what is peculiar to ourselves, we 
give occasion to the world to suspect us of personal and 
selfish ends. Unhappily, we have been deeply defective 
here. Most Christians have urged w^ith more zeal the 
article which distinguishes them from other Christians, 
than the articles in which they are united to them ; and 
few, very few, have wisely satisfied themselves with pre- 
senting to the ungodly the elements of our common salva- 

11 



226 ITS ADVANCEMENT 

tion. The world needed not this inducement to miscon- 
strue our motives ; there is nothing to which it is more 
generally predisposed. Assist them to this conclusion, and 
it is fatal to our success. It closes the avenues to the con- 
science. They may listen to us with respect, not with 
conviction. Whatever our present reception with the 
world, we should labor in every case to force on the mind 
this conclusion, — " He means only my good." Such a 
conviction would land us half way to our object. 

Again, religion must be presented as it is, not as it was. 
We must follow the directions of the New Testament rather 
than of the Old Testament, which as a formulary has van- 
ished away. It must appear before the world in its own 
spiritual simplicity ; not shrouded in forms, and encumber- 
ed with rites, which are now meaningless, and which both 
obscure its beauty and impede its progress. Simple in its 
doctrine, simple in its institutions, and simple in its wor- 
ship, it must be open to the apprehension and acceptance 
of all ; superior to place, to time, and to external circum- 
stance, it must go where we go, and [dwell where we 
dwell, a constant spring of happiness and joy. 

How strange that men, once tasting of liberty, should 
incline again to bondage ! Yet the church has given pain- 
ful example of this retrograde movement in religion. She 
has been introduced to a region of light ; but she has shrunk 
away into the darkness of a dispensation which was fading, 
before the glories of the Sun of righteousness. Almost 
throughout Christendom, to this day, religion is a veiled 
thing, hidden in meretricious ornaments, and oppressed with 
lifeless forms. W^hat is chiefly to be regarded Avith sur- 
prise and lamentation is, that Protestant churches should 
incline to superstitious folly and carnal reliances. If this 
corrupting of what is most holy and heavenly should serve 



IN THE NATION. 227 

the purpose of some, still, what can any Protestant church 
have to gain by it 1 If ceremonial is to be her confidence, 
there is a more splendid ceremonial than hers. If she is to 
rely on painting, on sculpture, on music — on lofty archi- 
tecture, finished rites, and picturesque procession — she is 
already excelled by one it will be hopeless to rival. She 
will be regarded as but a poor imitator ; and the false 
tastes she has awakened will seek their final gratification 
in the more perfect original. 

1^ Our^strength lies in an opposite course. If forms are 
used, it should be felt that they are a concession to our in- 
firmities, not a characteristic of our religion. Religion 
should be unshrouded, and presented in all her heavenly 
qualities to men. She should be heard in her own voice, 
and seen in her own aspects ; she would then speak of 
human want and human wo, as one that divineth the 
secrets of the heart. Every Christian should be but a reflec- 
tion of herself — her truth, her charity, her grace ; a living 
and legible epistle, known and read of all men. And every 
society of the saints should be so redolent with life and 
love, that, like the glowing fights of our sanctuaries on a 
winter's night, it might stream forth with cheering and 
quickening power on the world of darkness around. 

2. Religion should be preserved in a state of perfect 
separation from the world. Nothing is more clear than 
that the world, and all that is in the world — the lust of the 
eye, the lust of the flesh, and the pride of life — are hostile 
to genuine religion. Religion, therefore, can only hope to 
act with power, as she keeps herself unspotted from the 
world. 

This principle should regulate personal intercourse. 
Too often the intercourse of Christians wdth the world is 



228 ITS ADVANCEMENT 

conducted on the principle of compromise ; and in these 
arrangements the world is always the gainer. Much is 
given up in hope of getting a little, and that little usu- 
ally fails us. In this way Christians are often committed 
to pursuits and pleasures which are eminently worldly ; or, 
if these are not introduced, they are made to feel that it is 
in compliment to them ; and thus they are bound over to 
avoid their own peculiarities. Little are they disposed to 
transgress the understood rules of worldly intercourse ; the 
first act of compliance had betrayed conscience and para- 
lyzed speech. A stranger might mingle freely whh a party 
thus composed through a long evening; and he might be 
unable to distinguish between the religious and the worldly ; 
yea, he might be utterly unable to say whether any one of 
the whole professed to be a Christian. 

Can religion be expected to advance under such circum- 
stances ? Christian character, from its very nature, should 
be prominent. It should be incapable of compromise or 
concealment. If we mingle with the world, it should be 
not for our pleasure, but their profit. Without pretension 
we should be really superior to their distinctive pleasures, 
whether approved or doubtful, and should seek to raise them 
to our elevation. It should be felt that we are too rich and 
too happy in our choice to hanker after theirs. We ought 
not to be able to believe what we believe without speaking 
of it ; or to enjoy what we profess to enjoy without seek- 
ing to impart the joy to others. The world will give us no 
credit for possessing such a religion as ours, if it does not 
discover itself in elevated tastes, sanctified affections, and 
joyous utterance ; but let the world see, not so much from 
an effort of duty as from the spontaneity of life within,, 
that religion makes us the better, the happier, and the more 
amiable persons, and self-conviction and true conversion 



IN THE NATION. 229 

will prevail. " Since I have believed in Christ," exclaim- 
ed a distinguished Christian, in the fulness of her heart, 
*' since I beHeved in Christ, I have been as happy as an 
angel!" There was life in those words. They sank into 
one desolate heart, wearied of the world's emptiness, and 
it also became as happy as an angel ! 

Our instrum.entality should be religious. Religious 
objects should be promoted by religious agency ; since it 
only can duly sympathize with the work to be done, and 
the methods of doing it. Those who are not with us are 
against us; and they hinder while they seem to help. Thus 
as our ostensible numbers grew, our power for usefulness 
might decline. What disaster has come to the church and 
the world already from this cause ! 

We must needs go out of the world, if we would be 
wholly free from its influence. But there should be as little 
mixture as possible. The general bearing of Christians 
should be such as to carry the conviction to worldly minds, 
that they are not qualified for so high a service ; that there 
is a prior claim standing against them ; that till they have 
come out from the world, and submiited themselves to 
Christ, in the spirit of regeneration, they can do nothing 
for the renovation of mankind. 

Our religious institutions should be separated from the 
world. This remark bears on a kindred subject, but on a 
more enlarged scale. It may chiefly be comprehended in 
what is commonly understood by worldly patronage. Next 
to the error which confounds spiritual regeneration with an 
outward rite, it is woiking most destructively on the inter- 
ests of religion. Myriads of our'people are puzzled by it. 
They have little profit either by reflection or education ; 
and their religious services are rendered rather as they are 
the custom of their fathers, and the law of the land, than 



230 ITS ADVANCEMENT 

from any more intelligent reason. They offer homage to 
Cesar, rather than to Christ ; and their very religious ob- 
servances are without religious principle. 

The more acute mind, without religious convictions, 
takes ready advantage, from finding religion in such circum- 
stances, to establish himself in indiiference and infidelity. 
To his eye, religion appears only as a creature of the state — 
a subtle instrument meant to keep himself and others in a 
state of political subserviency. 

Generally, and everywhere, worldly patronage is work- 
ing like a leaven to corrupt the institutions of religion. It 
must necessarily do so ; and it matters nothing whether 
religion so circumstanced shall take the form of Episcopacy, 
Presbyterianism, or Independency. With a secular head 
of authority — with the highest appointments in the hands 
of statesmen, who use them chiefly for political purposes 
— with most of the gifts of the church in the hands of an 
aristocracy, who treat them mostly as personal property; 
to expect a pious and unworldly clergy, and a spiritual and 
devoted people, would be to look for grapes from thorns, 
and figs from thistles. 

What, then, is urgently wanted for the advancement of 
religion in our land, is, that she should he set free — that she 
should be allowed to stand alone, and plead her own cause. 
If the poor man is to mark distinctly what he owes to his 
Saviour, and what to his sovereign — if the disbeliever is to 
be deprived of his first objections to a serious consideration 
of the claims of Christianity — if religion is to be renova- 
ted in spiritual life and beauty, that she may renovate the 
country — she must be emancipated from the control of the 
State, and purified from the corrupting influences of the 
world. 

God, indeed, is no respecter of persons ; and those who 



IN THE NATION. 231 

fear Him and work righteousness shall be graciously acknow- 
ledged of Him, even in more objectionable circumstances. 
It is matter of unfeigned gratitude, that even in those por- 
tions of the church in our empire, beneath these worldly 
influences, there are many, very many, though not a majori- 
ty, who are the subjects of spiritual life, and who are 
laboring to promote it in others. Oh ! if they should re- 
ceive the spirit of better days, the spirit of heroic faith — if 
they should arise and protest against worldly patronage in 
spiritual interests, and should demand for themselves liberty 
— for the church liberty — the liberty wherewith Christ hath 
made them free ; this alone w^ould do more for the exten- 
sion of religion over the land than otherwise we might 
reahze in a century of time ! 

3. Religion may be advanced by seizing on every oc- 
casion to show that it is identified with our coinmon wel- 
fare as a 'people. 

We have much to learn and to effect on this subject. 
Multitudes of those who are truly religious have given their 
attention and benevolence almost exclusively to religion. 
They have, perhaps, thought this the safer course, if they 
would avoid censure. More frequently they have felt, 
necessarily, that their means of good were limited ; and 
they naturally went to the conclusion, that they would pre- 
fer religious to all other claims. They were slow to preceive, 
that such a resolution strictly carried out would, by sepa- 
rating religion from other interests of the people, have an 
irreligious tendency. 

It were well if the evil had terminated here. But it 
must be admitted, that many in the land — the affluent and 
the great — professing a zeal for religion, have too often 
shown themselves in opposition to the dearest interests of 



232 ITS ADVANCEMENT 

the classes below them in station. We have seen repeat- 
edly the strange and disastrous conjunction of religion with 
bigotry, religion with oppression, religion with ignorance, 
religion with indifference to the present and social welfare 
of the masses. Our noble and wealthy, our rulers and le- 
gislators, have had many precious gifts to impart; but of 
all they had to bestow they would give nothing with a 
liberal hand except religion, and that only on special con- 
ditions. Tbey would give religion, but not science ; reli- 
gion, but not education ; religion, but not liberty ; religion, 
but not bread ! Is it wonderful that the people should 
think it less valuable than the things so jealously withheld ? 
or that, if sincerely offered to them, it must be with some 
sinister design ? Throughout Europe, wdth only slight ex- 
ceptions, to this day, religion has thus been felt by the peo- 
ple rather as a burden than as a blessing ; and would it be 
remarkable if they should arise in their might and cast it 
from them for ever ? 

All who truly value rehgion and love their country 
must aw^ake to prevent such a catastrophe. They must do 
their utmost to separate her from her worldly and corrupt 
alliances ; and to attach her to the great interests of the 
community. Let her but appear in her own native good- 
ness, and the common people will be the first to welcome 
her to their homes and to hear her voice with glad- 
ness. 

The friends of religion must show themselves interested 
in the social comfort of the people. There have been many 
opportunities for this ; but they have not been improved. 
The religious have, by benevolent visitation, become best 
acquainted with the privations of the industrious poor ; yet 
they have not raised their voice for their removal. Even 
when valuable measures have been originated in the senate 



IN THE NATION. 233 

for their personal and domestic benefit, the religious por- 
tion of the community have discovered no special interest 
in them. Can religion thrive in dwellings without light, 
without ventilation, without the necessary means of clean- 
liness 1* Can morals exist, can even the decencies of life 
be preserved, when six or eight persons of different sex and 
age are crowded together day and night in a single room, 
whether cellar or garret ? Why should all the open spaces 
and parks of our populous towns be ever found about the 
habitations of the rich, while they are withheld from the 
poor ? Is not the sweet air as vital to the poor man, and 
the blessed light of heaven as cheering, as to the rich 
man i Yea, from the nature of his employment, and the 
limited accommodations of his home, are they not of greater 
necessity ? If we neglect his comfort, is he likely to ac- 
cept our religion ? 

The friends of religion should show themselves interest- 
ed in upholding the independence of the people. There is 
an immense difference between having a poor population 
and a pauper population; the one is consistent with a 
thriving state, the other is destructive of its very foundations. 
Much evil has come, and is still coming, from our "poor 
laws; and every thing should be done at least to mitigate 
the mischief. The cherished independence of the indus- 
trious classes usually breaks down under those casualties 
of life to which all are exposed, but for which they are, 
and must be, the least prepared. Bodily sickness, fearful 
accident, domestic bereavement, and physical privation, 
not unly bring affliction to the poor, but take away all the 
means he had of sustaining it, and place before him, in his 
sorrow, the horror of his life — a workhouse ! 

♦ In a recent visit to some of our manufacturing towns, I found whole 
Streets without the least supply of water, and with no means of drainage. 

IP 



234 ITS ADVANCEMENT 

If no Other hand should do it, the hand of religion 
should be near for his relief The means that are preven- 
tive, such as the savings' bank, the benefit society, and the 
arranged method for granting small annuities ; and the 
means that are remedial — the sick society, the hospital, the 
asylum, where the foundlings of Providence may be 
nursed with a mother's care, — should be supplied freely for 
his use. Let his sense of independence be crushed by ad- 
versity, and you have but little hope of inspiring him with 
the noble and generous sentiments of religion. 

The friends of religion should show themselves interested 
in the intellectual and moral improvement of the people. 
There has been not merely neglect here, but much weak 
fear. Fear, however, produces what it imagines. It is 
altogether out of place here. Knowledge is the food of the 
mind; and he who would monopolize it, the people shall 
curse him. We have no surer hold on the gratitude or the 
convictions of a people than by securing their spiritual 
growth. We want, in the fair sense of the term, national 
education. We want schools for all, without oifending the 
conscience of any. The school, the college, the chair, 
should be equally accessible to all ; and the reason why all 
do not attain the highest honors should be, that they pause 
in the course, and not that they are fenced off by others 
from an approach. 

We want a practical, every-day, common-sense educa- 
tion — not a formal deposit of unappreciated truth in una- 
wakened faculties. We need schools for the mechanic, and 
schools for the agriculturist — schools for the young, and 
schools for the adult. The lecture-room, the library, the 
rural and mechanics- institute, should complete the work so 
early begun ; and our museums, our galleries, and our pub- 
lic buildings should supply at once recreation and improve- 



IN THE NATION. 235 

ment to the quickened mind. Is it necessary to remark, 
that rehgious men would betray the interests of religion, if 
they were not the devoted advocates of this advancement, 
not as the members of a sect, but as the disciples of the 
New Testament ? Must not every one see, that they could 
not render such service to the people, without disposing 
them to admire a religion w^hich abounded in such pleasant 
and wholesome fruits '? 

Finally, the friends of religion should show themselves 
to be the devoted guardians o^ civil and social liberty. 
This is not the occasion to determine on the claims of com- 
parative and absolute right, and to settle how much a man 
relinquishes by the act of coming into society. Enough it 
is to say, that all have rights which none may take away ; 
and that the poorest may claim the utmost measure of lib- 
erty which is consistent with the safety and welfare of the 
whole community. 

Happily, it will be said, all this is secured by the Genius 
of the constitution. But we require that this imaginative 
personage should have something more of a practical, and 
something less of a sentimental, existence. The poor man 
should be as sure of justice as the rich, and it should be as 
accessible. The poor man should feel that he w^as as safe 
from disturbance in his mud-walled cottage as the baron in 
his castle ; and not as liable to be swept away, with the 
brushwood around him, to improve the domain. In some 
form or other the act of the will should be coextensive 
with the act of taxation, or taxation becomes tyranny. 
Shall religious men, accepting a religion which comes from 
Him " who is no respecter of persons," and w^hich pro- 
ceeds, from beginning to end, on the great principle of the 
essential equality of all men, be indifferent to the interests 
of true liberty 1 To be careless of the liberty of a brother, 



236 ITS ADVANCEMExNT 

is to be incapable of liberty ourselves. Let but the nations 
know, that the religion of Christ assures us of the highest 
freedom, and bestows on us the highest preparation to enjoy 
it, and the kingdom of heaven will soon prevail over the 
kingdoms of earth ! 

And what is all that we are thus asking but the natural 
effect of religion, unbound by the hand of man ? Light is 
hers ; peace is hers ; liberty is hers. The graces are hers; 
and the muses hers. Society and civilization are hers. 
Already, by her partial influence, she has raised Britain to 
an eminence which Tyre and Egypt, Greece and Rome, 
never knew ; and if religion shall permeate all her life and 
all her institutions, then shall it be as if the New Jerusalem 
descended from above, to bless and glorify the habitations 
of men. 

4. Religion may be advanced hy a more direct move- 
ment of the church on the masses of the 'people. 

For this purpose, our religious machinery must be im- 
proved. We have few and simple means to effect great 
objects, but they are capable of endless variety in applica- 
tion ; and as in trade, the machinery that was good seven 
years since is obsolete now, so the means in our possession 
require constantly to be adjusted to the circumstances in 
which they are found. To be as we were is to be left be- 
hind. 

The ministry needs revision. It should be pliant, free, 
elastic as the fulness of life can make it ; prepared alike 
for the highest and the lowest service. Every church 
should have its evangelists or missionaries; and these 
should be sustained by the select of the religious society. 
Associated churches should set free, more or less from local 
engagement, such men as, by their success and experience, 



IN THE NATION. 237 

are marked for general usefulness. There is no time when 
there is not an orbit of service such as Whitefield, Latimer, 
and Wychffe described ; and if the church saw the neces- 
sity, Providence would supply the men. 

The young should he especially regarded. The indivi- 
dual, the parent, the teacher, should look to this as a lead- 
ing claim ] and they should educate themselves, that they 
may teach others. Everywhere the effort should be to secure 
religious teachers ; not for the purpose of enforcing a creed 
or a catechism, but of breathing the pure and benign spirit of 
religion into secular instruction. The schools of the Sabbath 
should be eminently pious ; if not so, they are injurious and 
profane. They should always be regarded as a preparation 
for communion with the church ; and every Christian who 
has the care of youth should not consider his charge fulfill- 
ed, till they are presented to the church. The great battle 
which we are called to fight with darkness, error and super- 
stition, is to be fought in our schools. 

Our arrangements for general usefulness in the land, 
should be revised and remodelled on a more Christian prin- 
ciple. We are in extreme need, both for economy and 
efficiency, of more decided union amongst those who have 
one predominant end in view. We have now frequently 
two schools in a given district, when one would be better, 
and when the adjoining district has none. W^e have chapel 
and church, or chapel and chapel, in one locality; and 
neither chapel nor church in another equally necessitous. 
Why this exhaustion of our resources, if not for low secta- 
rian purposes 1 How long shall w^e sacrifice the greater to 
the less ? How long shall the common foe laugh at our 
folly, and flatter himself on his own sagacity 1 

The same evil is wasting our strength in our public 
societies. We have now several societies where we should 



238 ITS ADVANCEMENT 

have one ', and we have none where perhaps we should have 
several. "Why should ^ve have two Societies for Ireland 1 
two Anti-slavery Societies ? and four Associations for the 
Protection of Civil and Religious Liberty ? Why should 
we have the City Mission, the Christian Instruction and the 
Pastoral-Aid Societies, all moving on the same ground, 
and essentially to the same end ? Why should there be 
several Tract Societies, four Bible Societies, and four Mis- 
sionary Societies ? We distract public attention ; make 
great objects appear little by endless division ; waste our 
resources on numerous establishments ; and not seldom, 
alas ! quarrel wdth ourselves, instead of presenting an invin- 
cible face to our enemies ! 

The evil prevails even at the very fountains of know- 
ledge and strength. Our great universities are as closely 
sealed against one half the religious community, as though 
they were adverse to the interests of truth and religion. 
On the other hand, our Nonconforming bodies have carried 
their lesser distinctions into these arrangements; and each 
.is drinking at its little rill, when it should be satiating large 
desires at the living fountain. Had they recognised a com- 
mon principle of union, their small colleges, which have . 
been mostly renovated within the last thirty years, might 
have been brought together, and have composed one or 
two considerable universities. They would then have 
taken a fair standing before the country ; they would have 
secured the most eminent teachers ; they w^ould have distin- 
guished more readily between general and professional 
education ; they would have advanced the dominion of 
knowledge and of charity ; and would have done the highest 
service at a reduced expenditure. We are poor ; but poor 
as we are, we are paying two hundred per cent, more for 
the education^of our ministry than we need. We com- 



IN THE NATION. 239 

plain of our resources; but Providence will hardly trust us 
with more, till we have wisdom to use them better.* 

A committee should exist to watch over general questions 
and important movements of the public mind, and to im- 
part to them as much as possible a religious direction. 
They should provide lectures and lecturers on popular and 
fashionable topics, and give them a religious bearing. They 
should correspond with literary men, and suggest works 
that appear to be eminently needed. They should secure 
attention from the daily and weekly press, with the design 
of improving its character. They should mark points of 
ephemeral controversy, and not allow error to have the last 
word. They should encourage, through the bookseller, the 
republication of valuable works that affect present opinions ; 
and they should awaken the attention of the religious world 
to every subject in parliament, and resolve to be heard there, 
on whatever may bear directly or remotely on the interests 
of religion. 

The church, either by an association for that purpose, 
or other means, should be prepared to put out special power 
for the revival of religion, wherever it is gone into decay, 
or is specially neglected. From the want of this, a low 
and formal state of religion has become the fixed state of 
some places, while many others have passed into heterodoxy 
or desuetude ; and spots that were dark have accumulated 
darkness age after age. Ordinary, means require to be 
applied wifh extraordinary power in such cases ; and we 
have long wanted disposable forces for such service. That 
would be an unwise disposition of an army, how^ever strong. 



* Some good might yet be secured to these separate colleges, if they 
would come to a common understanding on the methods of education; 
and if they were united in an Education Society, which should obtain for 
them their due share of public attention and support. _ 



240 ITS ADVANCEMENT 

which should leave it no reserved power to act with special 
vigor on a point of great emergency. 

These observations, and others which are relative, all 
resolve themselves into individual effort. Each Christian 
must feel — deeply feel— that he has a part to bear, a work 
to perform, for the kingdom of Christ; and the whole 
church must go forth from the walls that have confined her 
to save the country. The mechanic at his art ; the tradesman 
at his counter; the merchant at his desk, must say, first and 
chiefly, I am a Christian; and first and chiefly, therefore, I 
am bound to serve my Lord and Saviour. He who tarries 
at business must pursue it for the Lord ; and he who retires 
from it must close his days, not where he may find most 
ease and gratification, but where he may most advance the 
good cause. He who has one talent must use it as freely 
as he who has ten ; and he who has ten must not be con- 
tent with the faithful use of nine. Labor must be pleasure ; 
tribulation, joy ; and loss, gain. Supposing that only one 
tenth of our people have any due sense or observance of 
religion ; yet if each one resolved within a twelvemonth to 
communicate directly with nine others for their spiritual 
welfare, all would be then addressed. But who shall say, 
what the effect would be on our beloved country 1 

One can scarcely bring these statements to a close with- 
out observing, that they imply a right spirit obtaining in 
the church, such as we have already enlarged on; and that 
it would express itself through all service and sacrifice by 
resting on heaven. This is essential alike to action and 
success. We are under a spiritual dispensation, and God 
will honor a spiritual agency, while he will confound the 
vain and the proud in the midst of religious avocation. The 
church, in proportion to her activity and progress, must be 
humble, prayerful, dependent. She must lean not on the 



IN THE NATION. 241 

world — not on herself — not on the gospel she utters — but 
on God only. Then, when her breath is prayer, she shall 
breathe freely ; then, when her hand rests on heaven, she 
shall move the earth to her will. 



III. 

r 

Let us finally glance at the considerations which con- 
strain us to this service. 

J 1. Look at the state of the country. It is not for me to 
feed bad passions by a degrading exhibition of my coun- 
try ; but if we are to apply a remedy, the evil must in some 
measure be present to the mind. Its religious state is most 
fearful. Let us say that the population is twenty-five mil- 
lions ; then say, to allow the fullest numbers, that eight 
millions attend on public worship ; and that four millions 
of these are suitably affected by the religion they profess. 
"What have we then ? We have seventeen millions of our 
people who know no Sabbath, v^ho worship no God, who 
are practical Atheists. Conceive, if you can, of the igno- 
rance, the pride, the enmity, the sensuality, the debauchery, 
and the penal crime which must prevail over such a mass 
of ungodliness! And this is England ! 

Apart from this, our state is universally allowed to be 
critical. We are strong, and yet weak ; exalted, but trem- 
ble lest w^e fall. We have burdens to bear which all would 
have thought intolerable; and yet we have leisure and 
mind to tear and devour each other. Party has taken the 
place of patriotism; and each in turn makes the other vile 
in the eyes of the people. Public good is absorbed in a 
consuming selfishness ; and places of the highest and most 



242 ITS ADVANCEMENT 

sacred trust, in the senate and the church, are bought and 
sold in open market almost without scandal.* The feudal 
distinction of two classes seems to be reviving itself in the 
land — the rich and the poor. The poor are alienated from 
the rich, and the rich have oppressed the poor ; and a bit- 
ter conflict is begun, in which the middle classes can hardly 
become an efficient mediator. Wrong might yet be forgot- 
ten, if right were sincerely adopted ; but of this there 
seems to be little hope. The governing and the governed 
have different interests, and those who govern are strong. 
Meantime the poor are increasing in numbers and strength 
fearfully, and unparalleled distress is quickening their con- 
victions of injustice. Peacefully, and by millions, they have 
sent up their prayer to the senate and the throne ; and if it 
shall be refused, and if there go up to heaven the cry of 
famishing myriads, for the justice denied them on earth — 
then the doom of England is fixed ! 

Her doom fixed ! — the doom of England fixed ! And 
must she die ? One thing alone can save her. Her re- 
medy is in religion ! 

2. Then consider the benefits which have been conferred 
on our country. Least among the nations, and farthest 
from the springs of civilization, the light of Divine truth 
early visited her shores, and tarried on them long. Cradled 
in storms, and overrun by fierce adversaries, she neverthe- 
less acquired strength under every calamity, till the floods 
of war and bloodshed which broke on her strand, rolled 
back with accumulated fury to overwhelm her enemies. A 
thousand times, every thing dear to a nation, was pnt in 

* The recent exposition in the senate, on the subject of bribery and cor- 
ruption at our elections, is a frightful instance of this, and has greatly 
shaken public confidence. 



IN THE NATION. 243 

peril — a thousand times an unseen hand wrought her sal- 
vation. Providence and religion were still with her; and, 
in most forbidding circumstances, wrought out for her a good 
which came not to other nations. Whose homes are so 
sweet as hers ? whose vallies so fair ? what people so happy 1 
Where has liberty a firmer throne ? or justice a better tri- 
bunal, or peace a more secure habitation ? Where, if not 
here, shall we find the mind beaming with intelligence, the 
soul rising to heroism, the heart melting with charity ? The 
hand which has supplied her with every element of good, 
has also made her great. At first, least among the nations, 
and an outcast from civilized life, she is now the greatest 
of them all. The sun, travel where he may, looks not on 
that portion of our world w^hich bears not the impress of 
her name and her power ! 

And shall the right hand of the Lord, which hath la- 
bored through ages to honor and to bless us, be disowned 
and despised ? Shall sin prevail to cast us dow^n from an 
eminence of power and happiness which none have ever 
attained ? Oh ! then were we indeed an imperishable 
monument of nameless ingratitude and Divine indignation ! 
Rehgion is our only hope ! 

3. Look, again, on the responsibility of the nation. 
The good which has come so freely to her, she is to im- 
prove for herself, and to bestow on others. She has unex- 
ampled power for this work of benevolence. What power 
in wealth ! what power in diplomacy ! what powder in com- 
merce ! what power in colonies ! w^hat power in local es- 
tablishments over the globe ! w^hat power in an invincible 
navy ! Where the people so distant she could not reach ! 
where the people so barbarous she could not civilize ! 
where the people so enslaved she could not liberate ! where 



244 ITS ADVANCEMENT 

the people so unhappy that she could not felicitate by the 
knowledge of the living God, and a true worship ! Oh, I 
tremble and rejoice for ray country ! I rejoice that she has 
the power, as with a hundred hands, to distribute the favors 
of Providence; and to utter, as with a hundred voices, the 
words of eternal life ! I tremble — yes, I tremble — lest she 
should fail to know her calling, and to fulfil her trust ! God 
has one ruling purpose in the government of the w^orld and 
of nations — the estabhshment of his kingdom. If she shall 
harmonize with this purpose, then all that she doth shall 
prosper; if she shall cross the line of this purpose — then — 
she must perish, and deserve to perish ! Religion alone 
can save her ! 

4. Look not alone on the fearful aspects of the great 
subject ; there are some indications which may encourage 
us to seek the advancement oF religion amongst us. 

True it is, that we have enjoyed and abused more bless- 
ings than any people ; and the clouds are gathered thick 
around us ; and the waters are swelling and moaning at 
our feet; and at any monjent the lightnings might flare, 
and the thunderbolt fall. Still the distressed and orroaning: 
vessel of the state has discharged some of her burdens, and 
something has been done to prepare her for the storm. It 
is something, notwithstanding aggravated offence and pro- 
vocation, that she is still spared. It is something that, if 
evil principles have w'orked with power, the antagonist 
principles have put out unwonted energy. Unquestionably 
our institutions have been improved ; and one class has 
been constrained to respect the claims of other classes. 
Knowledge has shed her mild lights over the land, and 
'■)opular ignorance is fast disappearing. Religion has made 
' ^cided advances on formahty and impiety ; and the word 



IN THE NATION. 245 

of the Lord is uttered in simplicity and power to far larger 
numbers of our population. Men have tried their own de- 
vices, and are wearying of them ; and are looking abroad 
for a good which religion alone can impart. God and his 
providence are certainly regarded with more reverence in 
our pubUc transactions. The truly religious have not only 
labored for the good of their country, they have with con- 
siderable resources sought to become the messengers of life 
to all other nations. Especially, we have thrown from 
ourselves for ever one perilous burden of guilt, in the abo- 
lition of slavery ; and have done it by the noblest sacrifice 
ever recorded of any people. 

All the happy circumstances to which we thus refer 
have been secured by the silent, but advancing power of 
religion. Especially that incalculable good — the annihi- 
lation of slavery — was effected by the combined struggles 
of the religious. It was not only good in itself — it taught 
the religious members of the community, limited as they 
are, their power. Religion may perfect the work she has 
begun. The hand that broke the fetters of the slave, may 
tie up the dogs of war, and bring peace, righteousness and 
charity to our land ; and the dark penal clouds, which 
overcast the state, might break away, till she stood forth 
in her glory, surrounded by her own bright waters, and 
dwelling in the blessed lights of heaven ! 

' 5. Finally, Remember it is your country for which this 
good is sought. Your country ! Is there no charm in that 
word 1 The land of your fathers ! Your land ! The land 
of your birth; where you first breathed the vital air, and 
saw the pleasant light ; where you first heard a mother's 
voice, and were welcomed into life by a parent's smiles ! 
The land where you first thought of God ; first bowed the 



246 ITS ADVANCEMENT IN THE NATION. 

knee in prayer ; and started in your pilgrimage to heaven ! 
The land of your best associations and dearest loves ; which 
has often brightened to your smile, and been wetted w^ith 
your tears ! The land of your privileges and your hopes; 
where is the book of knowledge, the covenant of promise, 
and the glorious tabernacle of the Most High ! The land 
of great and hallowed deeds — where sages have prophe- 
sied, heroes have fought, martyrs bled, and saints passed to 
heaven ; where piety has found a refuge, hberty a throne, 
and slavery a grave ! The beacon land of the world — 
whose lights beam on every nation, to guard them from 
surprising evil, and to guide them to the haven of all hu- 
man hope ! Oh ! could you look on, a careless spectator 
in the erisis of her fate, and see ruin fall on such a land — 
your country, and your home 1 a sight which would fill 
earth with astonishment and heaven with tears ! 

That crisis is come ! Oh, will you not fly to save her ! 
Your life were cheap in sacrifice for her redemption ! She 
may yet be saved ! Religion may save her ! — prayer may 
save her ! — the united and resolved labors of the good and 
holy may save her ! But, if they will not arise and unite 
for her salvation — then shall England sink down amidst 
her own waters, before the indignant face of heaven, and 
under the burden of unparalleled, unrepented, unforgiven 
sin ; and the mariner, as he marks his course across our 
channels, shall point to the spot and say, — There Ox\ce 

STOOD IN HER GLORY THE GREATEST AND THE GUILTIEST OF 
NATIONS. 



LECTURE IX 



THE ADVANCEMENT OF RELIGION 
IN THE WORLD. 



LECTURE IX. 



ITS ADVANCEMENT IN THE WORLD. 

" Preach the gospel to every creature,''^ 

We are now approaching the close of these exercises. 
We have passed from the personal to the social, the social 
to the public, the public to the national ; and have yet to 
pass from the national to the universal. We should not 
have a less, but rather an accumulated interest in the sub- 
ject. 

The rehgion of our Saviour subordinates the good that 
is private to the good that is public ; to communicate 
grace to others is a means of grace to ourselves. We are 
to seek our personal comfort in the growing display of his 
glory ; and the advancement of his kingdom within us by 
its advancement in the world. There is, indeed, a sense in 
which we are to wait for richer qualifications for this 
service ; but it is not to be found in doing nothing. We 
are to do our utmost now, and in a careful regard to the 
spirit in which it is done ; while in the very act, we wait 
on God, in the expectancy of prayer, for more spiritual 
qualification. " If any man will do the will of God, he 
shall know of the doctrine." 

It may be desirable to give distinctness to the subject, 
by marking, in the first place, the sphere of operation pre- 
sented to us ; and then to inquire how we may best operate 
on it for the advancement of religion. 

12 



250 ITS ADVANCEMENT 



I. 



The sphere of action is the world. Not the physical, 
but the moral world. Not the pagan or the Mohammedan 
world, but the whole world — " every creature." All are 
fallen — all are accountable — all need the provisions of the 
gospel — and to all it is graciously- sent as the message from 
heaven. 

If we are to refer to any limitation, it is only to be 
found in the line which separates such as have already re- 
ceived the gospel from such as have not ; and those who 
have freely received it are bound to press it on the accept- 
ance of all the rest. Missionary service is often spoken of 
as though it required to be fulfilled at a distance, and in 
lands of gross idolatry ; but, in fact, it is open to no geo- 
graphical or moral distinctions beyond what we have 
named. All who have not believed the testimony of the 
gospel are its proper objects, whether near or afar off— 
whether civilized or barbarous. All who, in spirit and ac- 
tion, are seeking to advance the empire of Christ, whether 
at home or abroad, are accomplishing one vocation ; and 
every spot of this wilderness, wherever found, which is not 
actually recovered to the garden of the Lord, is part of the 
one field for missionary labor. We are debtors alike to 
the Jew and the Gentile — the bond and the free ; and must 
not be satisfied with paying a part of the debt, when justice 
claims the whole. 

Unhappily, the single limitation of which the subject 
admits, has but little power to diminish the sphere of action. 
If we take the inhabitants of the world at eight hundred 
millions ; and if we suppose that fifty millions of that num- 
ber have truly accepted the gospel, there are still seven 



IN THE WORLD. 25] 

hundred and fifty millions — in fact, the world — remaining 
to be converted. Such figures have, perhaps, become fa- 
miliar to us ; and the mind requires to pause upon them to 
feel their solemn import. You speak readily of millions 
of persons ; but who has an adequate conception of them ? 
You have never seen the stupendous sight of a miUion of 
persons. No one present, perhaps, has ever realized the 
vast amount to himself by counting a million. Do you 
know that it would take nearly a month to count a mil- 
lion ; and that it would consume nearly fifty years to enu- 
merate the seven hundred and fifty millions of whom we 
are now treating, and to whom we seek to make known 
the salvation of God ! 

My brethren, what an object of interest, and of gran- 
deur is thus placed before us ! The mind is formed to de- 
light itself in great objects. The mountain produces an 
emotion which the hillock cannot. You have looked from 
the little bark that bore you into the deep, the fathomless 
and boundless ocean, and have trembled with admiration 
and delight. You have raised your face on the dark blue 
heavens above you — calm, profound, illimitable ; and re- 
splendent with worlds of light for multitude and magnitude 
inconceivable ; and with what emotion ! But what is this 
compared with a world of men — a world of souls — every 
soul of greater value than a world, and born to live when 
every star which adorns the heavens shall have gone out 
in eternal darkness. Oh I could earth or heaven present 
us with a service so sublime, so glorious, as that of confer- 
ring happiness on hundreds of millions of rational, respon- 
sible, imperishable beings ! 

The world in which we are interested is to be contem- 
plated as a lost world. In making this remark, we have 
no intention to commit ovrselves to the subtilties of contro- 



252 ITS ADVANCEMENT 

versy. It may, however, be proper to observe that we cer- 
tainly do not use it to express our belief, that all who are 
without the gospel necessarily perish. On the contrary, 
we cheerfully admit, that the Divine Spirit may impart 
gracious dispositions to man in circumstances of the great- 
est privation and ignorance ; and that, wherever there is 
such a disposition of mind as would thankfully receive the 
gospel if it were presented, there is essentially a state of 
salvation. Some there are that we should at once compre- 
hend within this exception *, and many there may be who 
are known only to the Father of spirits ; but, alas ! they 
are unquestionably so limited in number, as to be insigni- 
ficant on the general question. 

The question, indeed, is one of fact rather than of theory ; 
and, if thus treated, we shall be conducted it may be to a 
melancholy, but not to a difficult conclusion. Who, that 
knows the actual state of the world, can regard it other- 
wise than as a lost world ? If we look on those who enjoy 
a Protestant and evangelic faith, what multitudes are there 
still dead in trespasses and sin ! If we look on the wide- 
spread Greek and Latin churches, what have we but an 
unrenewed people trusting in vain rites and gross supersti- 
tions ; and religion slain by her friends, and then laid in 
state and surrounded by the silent pomp of death 1 

There remains to us Mohamraedism and Paganism. 
These dwell in the finest portions of the earth, and com- 
prise six hundred millions of its inhabitants. As systems, 
is there life or hope in them 1 Do they not, though by dif- 
ferent paths, lead direct to the chambers of eternal death ? 
Will any now venture to talk, as awhile since they did, of 
the " innocent superstitions" and the " beautiful mythology" 
of paganism 1 • Innocent practices ! and beautiful mytho- 
logy ! Why, under any other circumstances, if a man sin. 



IN THE WORLD. 253 

he, at least, sins against his religion and his conscience ; 
but here conscience is perverted, and his religion becomes 
the patron of his crimes! Cruelty and lust, theft and mur- 
der, have their patron deities ; and not a passion that stirs 
in the human breast, nor a vice that stains human conduct, 
but finds its corresponding divinity in heaven ! Innocent 
superstitions ! By which the widow is immolated, the sick 
are exposed and abandoned, the weak are robbed, the poor 
are oppressed, and man is brutalized ! — by w^hich social life 
is made impossible, and every man distrusts and hates his 
brother ! — by which vice itself takes the name and the 
rank of virtue, and the living and true God is mocked, in- 
sulted, and denied in every attribute proper to Deity ! 

What an object, then, is the world we are contempla- 
ting for deep compassion and strenuous effort ! A world 
in ruin ! — a world of souls without God, without hope, and 
perishing in sin ! — a world of which, whether the guilt or 
the misery were the greater, no tongue can tell — both are 
infinite, and both threaten to be eternal ! If one lost soul, 
falling away from light and heaven into outer darkness, 
were too sad a sight to look on, what, then, hundreds — 
myriads — millions ! 

This dreadful process of stupendous destruction is con- 
stantly going on around us. Do we realize it ? This year, 
twenty millions of souls will be wrecked in life and hope, 
and cast naked and desolate on the strand of etermity ! Oh ! 
some are perishing now — will you not thrust forth a hand, 
and, with a death grasp, strive to save them ! Xerxes, from 
an eminence, once looked down on some millions of his 
people, and wept to think that in thirty years they would be 
no more. Alas ! one might weep tears of blood to think, 
that, except as the faith of the gospel prevents the tre 



254 ITS ADVANCEMENT 

mendous issue, in twelve short months twenty millions of 
souls will be — in hell ! 



11. 



But our chief concern in this exercise is to inquire. How 
the great object before us — the salvation of the world — may 
be accomplished. 

There are some difficulties to be met here ; but they 
arise mostly from those persons who have attempted to deal 
with this subject in the spirit of unbelief. It has been said, 
for instance, that the expectation is preposterous, and the 
work impossible. The expectation, it is true, may become 
preposterous if not sustained by proportionate action, but 
the work is not impossible. No ! They greatly err who 
so speak, not knowing the power and truth of God. There 
was no impossibility in man's apostasy, under the influence of 
evil but finite influences ; and there can be no impossibility 
in man's restoration, by the hand of infinite power and 
mercy. 

Then, it is thought to be impossible without the aid of 
miracle. This is the opinion not of professed infidelity, 
but of the children of the faith. It has been prevalent in 
the church in our time ; and it still exerts a silent influence 
on multitudes. Again we say, No ! Miracle has answer- 
ed its end ; it is not to be expected ; it is not needed ; and 
if granted, it could not alone fulfil the work which we have 
to do. Ours is the age of means, and not of miracles. 

" But what means V it has been asked. " Are we not 
to wait for other and better means than those we already 
possess 1" No ! We are to wait for nothing ! The 



IN THE WORLD. 255 

church needs no other means than she now possesses ; and 
she is to expect none other. She is to use them now ; and 
when they shall be used and trusted as they deserve, by a 
believing and devoted church, the world shall be won to 
Christ. Let us look at this : — 

1. There is the truth — the word of God. 

This is the one great instrument by which we are to 
operate. Without it we can do nothing, and with it every 
thing. It is able to make wise unto salvation. 

The truth is frequently comprehended in the general 
appellation of the gospel. It is a gracious message from 
heaven to earth, suited to the fallen condition of man. It 
reveals God to us, and us to ourselves. It propounds a 
grand method of reconciliation, by which God can be just, 
and yet justify the ungodly ; and by which man may be re- 
covered from a state of rebellion to pardon and peace. The 
opposing claims of righteousness and mercy are balanced ; 
and the deepest humility, with the liveliest confidence, are 
awakened in the heart of man. The dispensation of grace 
is complete ; it is authoritative ; it bears on its face the 
broad seal of heaven, and the corresponding seal of con- 
science. 

The gospel is sent to all — to every creature ; and it is 
adapted to all. It was at first limited to a nation, until the 
great purposes of infinite mercy were fully developed in the 
life and work of the Mediator ; and then the veil was rent 
asunder, and all its glory disclosed to all the world. The 
gospel knows no caste ; allows of no temporal distinctions. 
It is supperior to time, circumstance, and place. Its pro- 
visions may be observed — its blessings enjoyed — its doctrines 
appreciated, equally under either pole, and by any people, 
whether refined or barbarous. This adaptation carries 



256 ITS ADVANCEMENT 

with it the evidence of its divinity. Uninspired mind, in 
its highest flights, could not attain such an elevation above 
earthly influences. The Jewish ritual is conventional ; the 
Koran is conventional ; the Shaster is conventional ; and 
down to the present time, all the devices by which men 
have sought to tamper with the gospel have worn the same 
character — they have tended to make that which was meant 
to be universal, national or sectarian. The gospel is from 
heaven ; and, like the light of heaven and the breath of 
heaven, sheds its own blessed influences unrestricted on all 
who are near and all who are afar off. 

2. There is human agency. 

Man is evidently made for society. His character can- 
not be developed in solitude. He has scarcely confidence 
in his own opinions, till he finds them to be the opinions of 
some second person; and life is without enjoyment if he 
is to live alone. His heart is remarkably open to social 
influences, whether for good or evil. He fell by them. 
And it was to be expected, that a religion from heaven 
should be adapted to these sympathies of his nature. This 
expectation is fully realized in the provisions of the New 
Testament. 

There is the standing and ostensible agency of the living 
ministry y which is to continue till the end of time. It is 
not enough, although the volume of revealed truth is now 
completed and placed on permanent record, that it should 
be multiplied, translated, and freely circulated ; it is a grand 
part of the Divine economy that it should be made known still 
by the living voice. The translation of the Scriptures is an 
admirable and indispensable auxiliary to the ministry ; but 
recent as well as more remote experience has shown, that 
it was never meant to supersede it. It is mostly a dead 



IN THE WORLD. 257 

letter and a neglected record where the minister and the 
evangelist are not. Religion would die out of our land in 
seven years if the living ministry were taken away ; and 
religion will never be enthroned amongst the nations, but as 
it is expounded and enforced by the living voice. The gos- 
pel is to be preached — proclaimed — to all nations. The 
message of mercy to man is to be uttered by man. 

Besides this agency, which is professional, there is the 
agency of the entire church. There never was a practical 
error of more destructive power than that of transferring to 
a priesthqod the functions of praying to God, and uttering 
the word of God, to our fellow -men. There is a line, dis- 
tinct and important, which the public ministry is to de- 
scribe ; but it must not obliterate the no less distinct line, 
which every disciple of the cross is to fulfil. The great 
law of the kingdom is, that he who has received the gospel 
is to impart it to others. This cannot be done by proxy ; 
from it none can give us absolution. The only limit to the 
obligation is the limit of redemption. If I am not redeemed, 
I cannot commend this redemption to other men ; if I have 
received the great salvation, I am qualified and pledged, 
by the very act, to make it known to such as still need it. 
It were a happy day in which this simple principle should 
be fully recognised and employed ! The tendency of all 
human devices, as grafted even on true religion, has been 
the other way — to the monopoly of knowledge and privi- 
lege ; but the institutions of the New Testament shall put 
them to shame, and shall finally develope their supreme 
efficacy in the simple fact— that the man who knows the 
Lord shall say unto his neighbor, " Know the Lord !" 

The question arises here, How far the existing agency, 
that is, the entire agency of the church, whether clerical or 
lay, may be regarded as adequate to the wants of the 

12* 



258 ITS ADVANCEMENT 

world? Numerically, the number of the converted, as 
compared w^ith the unconverted, is exceedingly small. Yet 
the chief deficiency is not in numbers. If the existing num- 
bers could receive a right direction, and be permeated with 
a right spirit, instantly a wonderful effect would be produced 
on the world. Suggestions of the kind following might 
contribute to regulate our present forces, so as to give thera 
tenfold power. 

(1.) The labors of the ministry should be more equal- 
ized to the claims of the world. There is a strange forget- 
fulness of the great command in the preparation for the 
ministry. The field is the world ; but we prepare for the 
service as though it were restricted to our country, our 
province, perhaps our town. Many of our colleges even 
deny an education to the minister, except he will engage 
to reap the fruits of it at home. At home ! The distinc- 
tion between foreign and home service is prejudicial and 
unsound. The true minister of Jesus Christ, as he is of no 
class, so he is of no country. Like the soldier, he holds not 
a conditional or divided allegiance; he is cheerfully to 
serve where his services are most needed. He has no right 
to prepare for home; he is to prepare for the world, and to 
stay or go as he is bidden. Certainly, all are not to go ; 
but all are to be ready to go ; and if they do not go, the 
reason should not be found in themselves, but in the will 
of their Saviour. 

Let us mark, how this single circumstance would con- 
tribute to the advancement of religion. It will be sufficient 
for our purpose if we confine the illustration to England 
and America ; and general figures will be all that we need. 
If we take the ministry in America at eleven thousand, and 
that of Great Britain at twenty thousand, the proportion 



IN THE WORLD. 259 

may then be said to stand at one minister to about fourteen 
hundred persons in America ; one to one thousand in Eng- 
land ; and one to about eight hundred in Scotland. While, 
for the world at large, we have about one missionary to 
one million ! All this happens when Britain has no more 
claim to the ministry than Africa ; nor America than China. 
Without demanding a better adjustment, I believe the 
United States could spare one thousand men, and England 
two thousand, for foreign duty. W^hat a host would this 
be for the missionary field ! But they would be lostto 
home ! No ! By going they would do more good at 
home, in awakening the conscience of the world and the 
graces of the church, than if they stayed ; and abroad, the 
stimulation and confidence of the common example would 
lift them to a new order of action and of character. 

If the same views were taken by the entire church, the 
results would be still more remarkable and auspicious. And 
the very principle which rules for the official member, 
rules equally for the private member of the church. Every 
disciple yields himself up to Christ. Whether he live or 
die, he is the Lord's. He has a spiritual calling as well as 
a temporal one; and the spiritual is the superior. If he 
can better serve the cause of his Saviour by fulfilling his 
secular calling in China, Australia, or Siberia, than in Lon- 
don or New-York, then he is bound to act on his convic- 
tions. And if this were done, is it possible for Lnagina- 
tion herself to embrace the issue 1 Would the missionary, 
then, think you, go forth as a poor despised solitary and 
outcast ? No ! He would be surrounded and sustained by 
holy and happy bands ! Prophecy should find her blessed 
accomplishment — instead of one, there should be a thou- 
sand ; and instead of the little one, a strong nation. 



260 ITS ADVANCEMENT 

(2.) As much as possible, the work of converting the 
•world should be effected hy the church. Those who seek 
to do it aright, must of necessity be of the church ; but this 
is not enough. The work is the work of the church. She 
exists in her present militant state for the sake of it; and 
every member of the true church must, directly or by repre- 
sentation, have a voice and bear a part in the great un- 
dertaking. 

At present, the arrangements are imperfect and arbitrary. 
Some are represented, and many are not. The principle of 
representation, where it is found, exists rather by accident 
or by implication than otherwise. The chief tie is that of 
money contribution ; not of counsel, of prayer, of co-ope- 
ration. The evils of such defective arrangement have come 
on us ; but they have not generally been referred to their le- 
gitimate causes. It has been thought that the churches 
could do no more than they have done. Happily, this is not 
the fact. They may have reached their maximum under the 
present means, yet by improved means a much higher re- 
sult may be secured. 

If in existing circumstances there must be, as I deliber- 
ately think there must, separate institutions for missionary 
service, they must acquire additional power, by a closer 
connection wnth the churches from which tiiey emanate. 
If there is union, there must be union by explicit consent ; 
if there is centralization, there must be representation like- 
wise. If all the churches are to assist according to their 
ability, all must be fully interested by knowledge, option, 
and fellowship. They must not only have confidence in the 
proceedings, (which, however, is of unspeakable import- 
ance,) they must have identification with them — they must 
be their proceedings. Great use should be made of the 
local association of churches for this purpose. They should 



IN THE WORLD. 261 

be informed of the more important movements ; regular 
channels should exist for the conveyance of a distinct opin- 
ion ; and through these associations, every church, however 
small, should be brought into living communion with the 
Society, either by agency of its own, or supplied from the 
central power. All who go forth to the missionary field 
should be as fully expected to keep up a correspondence 
with the particular church which sent them, as with the 
central board ; and every board should be forward to see 
that the artificial connection with itself does not interfere 
with the primitive connection they held to the organized 
and visible church. Nothing could produce a more health- 
ful influence on the missionary, or supply a better motive 
of devoted action to the churches. In this, as in similar 
cases, the vigorous and right action of the general body 
springs from the salutary action of the parts. 

Unhappily, we may not at present hope, that all the 
churches, partially interested in the conversion of the world, 
shall unite in one common centre of action ; still there 
should be secured to us sufficient combination to allow of a 
community of counsel, and a division of labor. From the 
want of this, we have had clashing interests even abroad, 
as if the world were not wide enough. Our missionaries 
have appeared as rivals when they should have been regard- 
ed as apostles; some spots have had undue attention, while 
others have been neglected ; valuable missions have been 
suffered to die out without successors, and our scanty means 
have been made less by misapplication. Why should the 
Episcopalian go to the South Seas ? Why should the Con- 
gregationalist go to Jamaica ? Why should the Baptist go 
to the Straits of Malacca 7 Why should the type of every 
sect and name, by which we are known and dishonored at 
home, be found in Calcutta, Canton, and Paris 1 Could 



262 ITS ADVANCEMENT 

not one Society work for Europe, another for Africa, and 
others for the distinct portions of Asia? And might not ihe 
allotment take place by common consent, and with respect 
to the peculiar fitness of each Society to act on the foreign 
field of service ? Might not the whole be subject to a con- 
current report to the churches ? Who shall say, that these 
are light considerations, if they effected no greater good 
than to hide the shame of our domestic divisions, and to 
prevent, to an indefinite extent, perplexity and infidelity in 
an inquiring world ? 

This division of labor, while it left us in full sympathy 
w^th the whole world, would prepare each Society to act 
on each portion with concentrated attention and power. 
This is a circumstance of much practical importance. We 
have sometimes seen one Society run in the wake of an- 
other, not because it needed help, but because it had been 
successful, and there was a desire to share in the spoil. We 
have frequently witnessed a Society struggling to be doing 
somiething all over the world, however little, till its slender 
resources were almost dissipated ; and new stations were 
attempted, when faithful missionaries were breaking down 
at existing and valuable stations from want of succor. A 
vain desire to report many stations may have led to this ; 
and not unfrequently an undue anxiety to provide a bon 
hon for the next annual meeting, has been the temptation. 
"Really, Sir," said a leading voice in one of these Socie- 
ties, as an ultimate reason for beginning a new station, — 
" our annual meeting is near, and it is necessary that we 
should have something fresh to report to the public." This 
remark was not unnatural in the present state of things ; 
but ought there to be occasion for it 1 " When I was a 
child, I thought as a child ; but when I became a man, I 
put away childish things." 



IN THE WORLD. 263 

(3.) As necessary to this and other ends, a regular and 
general correspondence should be maintained with all other 
and kindred Societies and churches. It is now by accident, 
and at uncertain intervals, that we know any thing of what 
is done by the cognate Societies in France, Switzerland, 
Germany, or America j although the disquisitions and nar- 
rations of the American Associations in particular are of 
first-rate consideration. This deficiency ought to be met, 
by making the records of all the Societies easily accessible ; 
and by expecting, that he who sits on the board of one As- 
sociation should prepare himself for deliberating on its pro- 
ceedings, by a general acquaintance with what is done by 
affiliated Societies. The written correspondence should, of 
course, be of the most friendly and confidential character ; 
it should relate as much to the future as the pastj and 
should be uniformly sustained by the zealous effort of each 
to give the utmost efficiency to the plans of all. 

(4.) The resources of the church should be made to bear 
chiefly on the masses of the world's population. Where 
other considerations do not interfere to affect the balance, 
the principle is, that two are to be preferred to one; the 
town to the village, and the city to the town. In this par- 
ticular there is a remarkable contrast between primitive 
and modern missions. The apostles and their companions 
began at Jerusalem, and preached the gospel from town to 
town, from city to city, evidently preferring the denser 
population as the field of greater promise ; while our 
modern missions have put forth their first effiDrts in Green- 
land, in Tahiti, and in the wilderness of America, where 
men were less numerous and more shy of human intercourse 
than the deer of their hunting grounds. 

None may withhold from the men, and the fruits of their 



264 ITS ADVANCEMENT 

indestructible zeal, the utmost admiration ; but we cannot 
commend so readily the wisdom which selected the field 
of service. We cannot sympathize with a prevailing 
and often repeated opinion, that if all the expenditure 
of our societies has secured the salvation only of a 
single soul, it is well expended. There is a great fal- 
lacy, as well as a great truth involved in this sentiment. 
We are not to be satisfied with any good, effected at 
any price. It may be bought too dear. We are to 
look for the greatest amount of good possible to the mea- 
sure of means employed ; and must not be contente i with 
a solitary conversion if it might have been tripled or qua- 
drupled. To seek the world's conversion by beginning at 
its extremities, would be to find our time gone before our 
work was done. We must act at once on the seat of life. 
We must strike at the city — act on the million — and if 
there be a preference, it must be where " Satan's seat is." 
We seek no comparison between such names as Eliot and 
Brainerd, Xavier and Swartz ; but who does not regret 
that the American missionaries had possessed similar fields 
of action with their brethren 1 and who that doubts in that 
case, that they would have secured proportionate tri- 
umphs ? 

, (5.) Should not the church herself endeavor to act in 
masses, on the greater masses of the world ? This would 
seem to follow the former position. If the masses are to be 
acted on successfully, it should be with increased power. 
What is one amongst a million ? What would twenty 
pious persons be in Great Britain ? Could we expect them 
able, for a day, to stem that current of corruption which 
would set in to bear us back to barbarism and night ? 

But what is to be done 1 The question, it is said, is a 



IN THE WORLD. 265 

practical one ; and we have applied all the means which 
can be raised. What can we do more ? We think and 
hope that something more may be done. We think there 
is a remedy. We are sure one is needed, for little as is 
done, our Societies are exhausted by the effort, and they 
are not now able to supply the wastes arising from death 
and superannuation. 

First of all, the forces already on the field should be 
brought nearer to each other, and in many cases consoli- 
dated. No missionary should be allowed to stand alone ; 
for man to be alone is to languish and die. Strength 
should not be exhausted on isolated points, and insignificant 
numbers; but power should be accumulated on great cen- 
tres of action, and important outposts. This alone would 
give confidence to our agents, and awaken expectancy and 
enthusiasm, as all would have not only a present but a 
prospective interest in his station. 

Then, and especially, the church should be brought to 
correct her opinions on missionary labor. Whether de- 
signedly or not, our operations have given, almost univer- 
sally, a wrong impression on this great subject. In the 
general mind the missionary and the minister are identified ; 
so that no one turns his thought to the missionary field, till 
he has first disposed of the question. Am I fit to be a min- 
ister of the gospel ? Mostly, to the honest mind, this 
questions brings a negative, and henceforth he satisfies him- 
self, that he owes no 'personal duty to the heathen. What 
is this but to inoculate our modern institutions, which are 
for the life of the world, with the worst vice of the papacy '? 

This error requires to be met not by opposing to it the 
literal truth ; it chiefly needs that we should oppose to it 
instant pradice. Say what we may, while, in fact, we 
are sending out only the ordained minister, the effect will 



266 ITS ADVANCEMENT 

be, that the church will rest at her ease, more than content, 
if she assists us to fulfil a professional duty. 

We require some decided movement to break up this 
paralyzing error. Some of our more important stations 
should receive the character of colonies. Our laity should 
be inclined to look on them with favor. Their claims should 
be pressed on the conscience in the most sacred forms of 
duty. Persons of learning and property, and families still 
pursuing a secular calling, but deeply pious, should be en- 
couraged and urged to go forth, and settle with the minister 
and teacher, and chiefly to advance the kingdom of heaven. 
The whole truth, in its whole power, might take some time 
to work with full effect ; but who questions its efficacy 1 
Have we less of the higher forms of piety in self-denial 
and zealous devotedness in our churches, than in our min- 
istry 1 We believe not. Could such a movement be made 
on foreign shores in vain ? For our colonies it is precisely 
what we want ; and for every other field it would be 
'charged with good yet undeveloped. W^e learn more by the 
eye than the ear. Is there not a sermon in the life of a 
Christian ? and needs it wait for a translation 1 Would 
not the order, the worship, the habits, the elevation of a few 
Christian families, fully mixing with the world, yet utterly 
distinct, resting continuously under the eye of the degraded 
pagan, act like a leaven, silently but irresistibly, on the mass- 
es around them 1 We must colonize if we would convert. 

Are we sufficiently aware of the facilities which Divine 
Providence is throwing in our path, to act on this larger 
scale ? It so happens, that at this very time we have on 
an average about a hundred thousand persons annually 
quitting our country for the very purpose of colonization. 
How is it, then, that these elements of usefulness, prepared 
to our hand, have been so entirely overlooked 1 All who 



IN THE WORLD. 267 

thus go are placed in a condition to make counsel most de- 
sirable. All of them would be more or less grateful to be 
attended by a teacher and a schoolmaster. Most of them 
would be disposed to settle under the advice of disinterested 
friends in whom they could confide. Our Government 
have felt such an interest in their destination, as to appoint 
agents to guide them in their departure and location ; but 
Christians have done nothing — positively nothing — to secure 
a power of such magnitude for the civilization and salva- 
tion of the world ! Meantime, men who have a landed and 
monied interest in foreign countries, have banded them- 
selves into societies, and have put themselves to vast charges, 
to bias them to their own purposes, and frequently, with 
reckless contempt of the interests of the emigrating party. 
Verily, " the children of this world are wiser in their 
generation than the children of light !" 

Besides, at the lowest computation, it may be assumed 
that of the hundred thousand persons emigrating yearly, 
five thousand are truly pious. If taken in time, their loca- 
tion might be mostly determined, as it frequently is in Ameri- 
ca, by the prospect of a good minister, and a good school. 
Is it not passing strange, that no effort has been made to 
elevate their thoughts to missionary objects or to secure their 
establishment where they may best serve the common cause 1 
Is it possible that any agency, any expenditure, could be 
better applied than that which sought to incline a moving 
power, so great for good or evil, to an expected and blessed 
end? 

There is still another circumstance worthy of attention. 
The fact, that so many thousands are annually leaving us for 
foreign location, leads us to the certain conclusion, that the 
ties which hold as many more to the country, are loosened. 
There can be no doubt, that multitudes of pious persons 



268 ITS ADVANCEMEiNT 

tlius circumstanced, if it could be shown to them, that while 
their temporal interests did not sulTer, they might essentially 
serve the kingdom of Christ, would be willing to make a 
settlement abroad. It only requires to be connected with 
a wise and vigorous system ; and then impressed on the 
mind and heart b}' earnest representation, to ensure a suc- 
cessful issue. We should then have fewer going forth from 
the constraint of circumstances, and far more from the con- 
straining love of Christ ; and a new era in missionary labor 
and prospects would be begun. 

To convert, we must colonize; and if we do not go 
forth willingly to the help of the Lord against the mighty, 
fiery trial may come, as it did on the saints in Jerusalem, 
to force compliance with his great command. But where 
is the honor or the joy of a compulsory service ? 

Our mercantile marine power, has not been sufficiently 
regarded, as an important agency in the missionary field. 
It is great ; in England alone it amounts to about two 
hundred and fifty thousand. Those who form it are in the 
habit of visiting every port in the world; and everywhere, 
now, they'are creating the strongest prejudices to our work, 
or demolishing it where it is begun. If a ship, which has 
too generally deserved the prevaiUng appellation, " a float- 
ing hell," could come to be commonly regarded as a float- 
ing church, what facilities would at once be given to the 
Christian cause ! Why should not our merchants be ap- 
pealed to on this ground ? Why should not our captains 
be addressed, and enrolled in this service ? Might not the 
sailor himself be elevated to respect this object ; and might 
not the effort be sustained by a marked preference of such 
as did respect it ? It is dreadful now to think, that the 
vessel which bears out the missionary, as a solitary witness 
to the truth and grace of our religion, bears also some 



IN THE WORLD. 269 

twenty or thirty witnesses against it, if conduct is to deter- 
mine the question ! 

(6.) The employment of native agency must become 
general. It may seem late in the history of missions to 
refer to this subject ', yet it is not too late, since it has been 
strangely neglected. It might have been thought, that the 
first thing occurring to the mind of a missionary would be, 
that those he taught should be prepared to teach others. 
But it was not so. It seems not to have formed any regu- 
lar part of their plans, yea, scarcely to have entered the 
mind of some of our earliest and best missionaries. The 
professional prejudices in which they had been educated 
might have led to this. Many, too— such is our frailty — 
may have cherished, unallowed to themselves, a reluctance 
to raise their converts to the sanctities of their order. Be- 
sides, the societies from which they have emanated may 
have naturally inclined to European agency, as most rea- 
dily managed, and most certain to preserve the native 
churches in union with themselves. Most unquestionable 
it is, that through no brief period some causes have worked 
powerfully, though unseen, to prevent the growth and use of 
native agency ; and thus to deprive us of some of the fairest 
fruits of the gospel, as well as the most efficient means for 
its propagation. 

" If the iron is blunt, there must be the more strength." 
What we have been slow to learn. Providence has been at 
pains to teach. The great expense of preparing European 
agency for distant stations ; the lamentable waste of valua- 
ble life ] the difficulty of acquiring foreign language at 
mature age, and the impossibility of using it as the mother 
tongue ; and the stunted condition of our native churches, 
while kept down to one dead level ; have forced on us the 



S70 ITS ADVANCEMENT 

reluctant conclusion, that native agency is the most efficient 
agency. 

Now, that we have arrived at this conviction, it will 
require much magnanimity to embody it in cordial and 
earnest action. The missionary must have the magnanimity 
to think nothing of his order or himself, that Christ may 
be magnified amongst the heathen ; and the Society he 
represents must have.the magnanimity to sacrifice the love of 
power and of centralization, and to rejoice in the indepen- 
dent action of their converts, so soon as they can safely 
stand alone. 

It is not proper to this exercise to consider fully how 
this should be effected. Yet it may be open to the intima- 
tion, that we must not be contented to rely entirely on ex- 
isting and ordinary arrangements ; it must be sought by 
special attention, and frequently by independent agency, 
if we would find it in sufficient quantity or maturity. The 
great thing, however, is to fix the mind on it. Native 
agency is efficient agency. It is of the first necessity, if 
we are to advance on our present position. No missionary 
station, however, cheering, has the promise of permanency 
and growth without it.* 

(7.) Those w^io are to give themselves exclusively to 
missionary service, should have a more exact and decided 

* Happily -we are already furnished with evidence on this subject. Mis- 
sionary labor at this moment is most successful just where native agency has 
been earliest and most fully brought into action— -the South Seas and the 
West Indies. Polynesia now demands nothing more than what is necessary 
to a careful superintendence ; and the West Indies should at once be made a 
seed-bed for the cultivation of the deserts of Africa. In like manner, an effort 
should be made to restore and resuscitate those Christian communities which 
spot the face of the earth, that from a hinderance they may become auxiliaries. 
This will particularly apply to those regions possessed by the followers of 
Mohammed. 



IN THE WORLD. 271 

preparation. It is well, that the distinction between the 
home and missionary college should be abolished ; but then 
if men are to prepare in our colleges for foreign service, 
they must be supplied with some courses adapted to their 
prospects ; or what is needful beyond a general education 
must be sought through some other channel. Whenever 
the general studies are closed, the field of action should be 
determined, not as vacancies happen to turn up, but on as- 
certained adaptation ; and the studies peculiarly necessary to 
the prospective engagements of the individual should begin. 
It would be absurd in the highest degree to give the same 
training to the man who is destined for India as to the man 
who is to labor in Africa; and it would be unjust to leave 
both only to their general preparations. 

While there is the same fixed adherence to principle, 
there should be much greater flexibility in the application. 
In this respect we must become all things to all men. 
Many countries that have been closed to us under our pres- 
ent modes of action, would be open to us with better ar- 
rangements. Madagascar might at this moment be safely 
and usefully occupied by pious artists ; Turkey might be 
possessed by skilful physicians ; and great way might have 
been made in China and its dependencies through the me- 
dium of the sciences, and of medicine especially. Shall 
we allow a name, a habit, or personal dignity to prevent 
our access to nations, when our professed object is the sal- 
vation of myriads of men 1 Is this our philosophy ? Give 
me rather the philosophy of the single-hearted Moravian, 
who sold himself for a slave when he found he had no other 
means of proclaiming to slaves the freedom of the gospel ! 

All that the case requires is, that we should be sincere 
in our professions ; and he who establishes himself amongst 
a people by handicraft, by medicine, by general science, or 



272 ITS ADVANCEMENT 

general education, still with the predominant purpose of 
advancing religion in the world, is as fully a missionary of 
the cross as the laying on of any hands could make him ; 
and, in many instances, will command the finest opportuni- 
ties of usefulness. Romanism has sought to work by these 
means, by uniting them in her clergy, and this has often 
led to collusion ; we have only to advance another step to 
secure the good and avoid the temptation — let us seek 
for them in union with deep-toned earnest piety, and trust 
for the rest. 

Our missionaries (I must use it as a distinctive term till 
we shall have corrected our vocabularies) usually go out 
married from our several Societies ; and mostly, I am sorry 
to state, their wives go out unprepared. Certificates are 
produced of their health and piety; and this, generally, is 
all that is known of them. They are the wives of mis- 
sionaries, but they themselves are not missionaries. The 
consequences may be readily foreseen. Some have nobly 
risen above all their difficulties ; and have educated them- 
selves at their stations; I speak not of them, but of the system. 
Many have gone forth entirely misconceiving the nature of 
the work to be done, and the life to be led ; and utterly 
unprepared by discipline and knowledge to bear a useful 
part in them. They have soon hankered after the com- 
forts, and perhaps the little elegancies of home ; cheerful 
sympathy has died away from the dwelling of the mission- 
ary ; and who can wonder, if either his health or his en- 
thusiasm have failed him in the midst of his career ? 

None shall be able to say, how much of evil has sprung 
from this single source; a source of evil that ought never 
to have existed. The question whether the missionary 
should go forth single or married may admit of debate; 
but it cannot be a question, whether, if he be married, his 



m THE WORLD. 273 

wife should be prepared or not. Are not the expenses and 
the responsibilities doubled by the connection ? Is not 
woman, pious woman, equally fitted in her own sphere, to 
act a beneficial part at a missionary station? and do we 
not deprive ourselves of one half of our strength, if we decline 
the help she may render ? 

America, I am happy to say, is an exception to these 
remarks. Later in the field, she has earlier corrected the 
prevailing error. The consort of the missionary is not only 
an educated woman — she is carefully educated as a mis- 
sionary ; is recognised and treated as such by those who 
send her forth ; and knows, as distinctly as the person to 
whom she is united, what is her duty and what her respon- 
sibility. We are indebted to this prudential course of 
conduct for the knowledge and love we have of Harriet 
Newell, Mrs. Juclson, and Mrs. Lowrie. Our women must 
be not merely wives — they must be missionaries. 

Education should be regarded as an integral part of 
missionary labor. A prejudice lay against this at the be- 
ginning ; and every man who went forth, however slender 
his qualifications, was expected to go not as a teacher, but 
as a minister. One would hope the prejudice has expired 
before advancing knowledge ; but certainly the effects re- 
main with us. Recently a most respectable missionary 
chose the sphere of education as his most useful mode of 
action ; but even amid the deserts of Africa the prejudice 
against the teacher, and in favor of the preacher, was so 
strong, that he was driven to seek ordination that he might 
act efficiently as a schoolmaster. At no more remote pe- 
riod of time, out of thirteen persons embarked for mission- 
ary service, and chiefly in barbarous lands, eleven of the 
number had not seen an infant school. 

Most heartily we believe, that it is by the earnest utter- 
13 



274 ITS ADVANCEMENT 

ance of the Gospel, that we are to look for the conversion 
of the world to God. But what is preaching but one mode 
of education ? a mode adapted to adult life 1 Are we, 
however, to labor for the adult, and neglect the young ? 
Education, in the hands of pious men, is the appropriate 
method of making known the gospel to youthful life. 
Everywhere there may well be a distinction preserved, 
fainter or broader, between the engagements of the 
teacher and the pastor ; but it were strange policy to put 
them in a state of conflict, or even of separation. Rome 
has shown consummate skill in the fact, that while she is 
unfriendly to popular knowledge within her own peaceful 
domain, when she has to deal with a determined adversary, 
she relies chiefly on education — and the education of the 
young— for her success. 

The remarks on education may be extended to civiliza- 
tion. We are certainly not to wait till a people shallbe 
civilized, that they may be qualified to accept the gospel ; 
we are rather to look for their civilization in their evan- 
gelization. Yet this only affects the order of the blessing ; 
and if the gospel carries with it a civilizing power, then 
our missionaries ought unquestionably to be prepared to 
guide and establish their converts in the arts of civilized 
life. These, with the natural sciences, often, as in the case 
of WiUiams, take the place of miracle ; and if they are 
withheld, the multitude of professed converts are likely to 
fall back into apathy and irrehgion. 

These hints, from their very nature, may seem to want 
some connecting parts ; but the order which we would have 
them substantially to take is — preach — teach—civilize ! 

(8.) Finally, our efforts to convert the world should be 
brought more fully under the observation of the world, that 



IN THE WORLD. 275 

they may take knowledge of them. This may be done by 
our missionaries. They are pledged to make periodical 
reports to their constituents; but they are limited to the 
subject of religion, and are read therefore only by rehgious 
people. They should be of a more attractive and general 
character. The missionary in most of our settlements has 
such an opportunity of reporting what is new, or strange, or 
beneficial to the common interests of society, that he may 
force the public attention. Our lamented Williams has 
shown in some measure what may be done in this way. 

The missionary station should be a centre of light ; and 
should be felt to be friendly to all the interests of science 
and civilized life. There should be kept a daily register of 
the variations in the barometer, thermometer, and hygrome- 
ter. Thence should be reported all the characteristics of 
the great human family'; and all the peculiarities of the 
animal, vegetable, and mineral kingdoms. Particularly the 
world should look to them for the more important discove- 
ries yet to be made. Chiefly, if we are wise, they are to 
be made by missionaries. Where others have failed, they 
may succeed. At this time Moffat may do what all other 
men attempting have perished. His station should be pro- 
vided for, and he should be encouraged to reap the fruit of 
twenty years' service, by penetrating to the heart of Africa. 
It is safe to him, and only to him. Apart from the direct 
missionary objects to be promoted, is it of no importance 
that the world should see that the missionary, with the Bible 
in his hand, is safe where the merchant, the soldier, and the 
traveller have fallen, and that he can become a bond to the 
broken and scattered fragments of society ? 

The order of communication to which we refer would 
insure notice from the periodical press^ and this would have 
its weight on public opinion. 



276 ITS ADVANCEMENT 

The same object might be sought at home by the reli- 
gious community taking a marked and leading part in all 
correlative interests, llie world should feel that the Chris- 
tian was not only a patriot but a philanthropist; that 
whatever was important to the present or future welfare of 
man was important to him. Every Christian should make 
haste, as the occasion offered, to show himself on the side 
of order, liberty, peace, temperance, justice, and charity and 
knowledge. If the Christian communities of England and 
America demanded peace, there could scarcely be war ; if 
they raised a temperate but firm voice against intemperance, 
drunkenness would go staggering out of life ; if they put 
themselves steadily on the side of freedom in thought and 
worship, in action and commerce, monopoly and usurpation 
would die out of society. 

On great questions and of common interest to the whole 
human family, they should make themselves heard not only 
by public meetings, but by general councils and solemn 
protestations in the face of the whole world. The ques- 
tions of peace — temperance — freedom to our fellow man — 
union amongst Christians — and the universal establishment 
of the religion of Christ — are manifestly of this order. 
The mere fact of such movements, if well timed and well 
sustained, would work mightily on the world for its redemp- 
tion. And who should not sustain them ? No man should 
be happy while his fellow-man is miserable ; no Christian 
should be happy till man, who is his brother, is also a 
Christian ! 

3. There is Divine agency provided, as a means to our 
object. 

The Holy Spirit is the great promise of this dispensation. 
He was first given, on the ascension of the Redeemer, for the 



IN THE WORLD. 277 

extension of religion over the world, and his power is to be 
revealed in accumulating glory, as the great purpose of 
redemption hastens to its consummation. His agency is 
special and common ; particular and nniversal. 

His special and particular agency is within the church. 
There he operates, not to supersede human agency ; but 
to prepare it for the work to be done, and to render it effi- 
cient in doing it. The truth is mighty " to the pulling 
down of the strongholds of Satan ;" but it is mighty 
" through the Spirit." The hand of man is made indis- 
pensable to the triumphs of the gospel ; but " it is God that 
worketh in us, both to will and to do of his own good 
pleasure." The agency of the church is, therefore, a con- 
scious, voluntary, and spiritual agency ; the first fruits of 
the Spirit ; and as it is more exactly prepared by his hand 
for the conversion of the world, it is marked — 

By the spirit of penitence. Penitence is the religion of 
a sinner ; a fallen creature cannot be in his right mind, or 
in his right place, but as he is habitually prostrate in peni- 
tence before his Father in heaven. The church cannot be 
prepared for any service, least of all for that which we are 
now contemplating, except as this heavenly temper pre- 
vails. Her eye cannot rightly glance on the condition of 
the world without a deep conviction of her sin. For 
eighteen centuries she has received the command to be- 
stow the gospel on all nations, and the promise of the Spirit 
in seeking to fulfil it ; and for eighteen centuries she has 
neglected her plain duty, snd despised her high vocation. 
M*^antime her fault has nourished the world in infidelity 
to the truth, and opposition to the Saviour ; and age after 
age, year after year, millions of the children of men have 
perished in their sins. Blood is on her — the blood of souls 
— the blood of centuries ! 



L 



278 ITS ADVANCEMENT 

How shall she recover from this state of unparalleled 
guilt, and spiritual indolence ? Not by high resolve, but 
by profound repentance. If she would do her first works, 
she must repent. If she would commence a new life, she 
must repent. She must see distinctly her state of sin and 
unfitness ; she must mourn, mourn over it as a mother over 
her first-born ; she must sink down abased in conscious 
nothingness, at the feet of her Saviour, and find in him 
her hope and renovation. It must be not so much an act, 
as a habit rooted in the mind — a penitence so full, so abid- 
ing, as to keep the soul under a living persuasion of utter 
unworthiness and unpreparedness. 

To the mind of the world, this would be disqualifica- 
tion ; to the mind of the Spirit, there is ;no qualification 
without it. By the law of the kingdom which we serve, 
it is ordained — that the sense of weakness is strength, the 
sense of folly wisdom, the sense of unworthiness and guilt, 
preparedness — "the things that are not are to bring to 
nought the things that are." Where this penitential abase- 
ment becomes a predominant temper, there is an end to 
pride, querulousness, carnal confidence, and criminal dissen- 
sion ; and there are the elements of peace, power, union, 
and devotedness. Show me a church — not boastful of her 
numbers, reposing on her means, anxious for her resources, 
or even rejoicing in her success — show me a church awa- 
kened to an apprehension of the Infinite Glory, mourning 
in unutterable abasement before its presence, and conscious 
of utter unfitness for every work by which an adored Sa- 
viour may be glorified ; — and I will show you a church 
filled with the Spirit, and in the highest state of prepara- 
tion " to rebuild the waste places, and to repair the desola- 
tions of many generations." 

The presence of the Holy Spirit in human agency 



IN THE WORLD. 279 

"would be discovered, by the spirit of piety. Piety is right 
sentiment towards God. We refer to it now not merely 
as present, but as exercised in elevated forms. The piety 
which sees God, which adopts his interests as its own, and 
which is zealousy affected to his glory ; the piety which 
has deep fellowship with the truth, which lives in the light 
of heaven, and in oblivion of the world's best pleasures ; 
the piety which not only submits to self-denial and self- 
sacrifice, but finds pleasure in them while they may please 
and serve the Redeemer ; the piety which parts with all 
and has all, which loses itself, and is possessed of Deity ; 
is the piety which we are contemplating. Such piety is 
the highest preparation for service ; it is the richest fruit of 
the Spirit ; it amounts to an entire consecration : where it 
is, there is the temple of the Holy Ghost, in which he 
dwells, is worshipped, and glorified. 

This piety is necessary to the renovation of the world. 
Were it possessed in such measure, we should not then 
question its existence in ourselves ; nor would it be that 
poor feeble thing scarcely deserving, and scarcely bearing 
exportation lo a foreign land. We should not then lan- 
guish for want of means, nor for >vant of men — and the 
men would be all heroes. Christians would not then labor 
to increase their wealth, that they might increase their es- 
tablishment ; but that they might have the noble satisfac- 
tion of advancing -the kingdom of heaven. Missionaries 
would not then be asking for the post of ease, of honor, or 
of safety, but for that of assault and hazard ; nor w^ould 
they be failing under discouragement in the midst of life, 
for a living piety would be to them the ehxir of life, and 
they should prolong their days in the land which the Lord 
their God giveth them. The earth would not then be 
scandalized by disunion and contention between followers 



280 ITS ADVANCEMENT 

of the same Lord ; for they should see with one eye, speak 
with one tongue, and live and love as brethren. What 
was difficult should become easy, and what was impossible 
practicable, to more elevated faith and unconquerable love. 
The church would feel that she was intrusted with two 
great interests — the salvation of men, and the glory of 
Christ — and superior to obstruction, she would go forth to 
fulfil her commission with the singleness of purpose, and 
exact. fidelity, proper to an angel from heaven. 

The Divine agency of which we are speaking, will also 
be marked by the spirit of prayer. The spirit of prayer is 
the spirit of humility and of dependence. It carries the 
creature out of himself to rest on his Creator and Saviour. 
It is precisely that temper which sensibly connects the Di- 
vine agency with the human agency, in the conversion of 
the world ; and as the human agency is nothing of itself, 
and the Divine agency every thing to it, nothing is to be 
expected without it. It is the law of this service, that it 
shall be discharged in the utter renunciation of ourselves, 
and a complete dependence on God. In prayer it must be 
begun ; in prayer it must be sustained ; and if the nobler 
achievements are ours, they must be secured by the prayer 
which hath agony and perseverance. 

These remarks have equal force, whether they apply to 
qualification or success. He who has not the spirit of 
prayer has no qualification for this service ; for none is 
sanctified but by the word of God and prayer. He that is 
full hath nothing ; he that is Avise knoweth nothing ; and 
he that is strong can do nothing ; but he that rests by be- 
lieving prayer, and enlarged desire, on the fulness of God, 
appropriates to himself something of the Divine wisdom, 
might, and grace. 

All success in labor is united with the same capital cir- 



IN THE WORLD. 281 

cumstance. The instruments of eminent, usefulness in his 
kingdom are to be preferred, as were the primitive disciples, 
by mortification and abandonment of themselves. Such 
men God delighteth to honor ; but he will confound, at 
every step, the man who flatters himself that his wisdom or 
his might is requisite to sustain the ark of his glory, or to 
bear it onward in majesty, triumphant before the face of 
his enemies. 

The ancient church may supply us with a beautiful and 
striking exemplification. Israel was to fight against her 
enemies ; and Israel at the same time, through her great 
prophet, was to pray without ceasing, to express that her 
help was in God. The moment in which the hand of 
prayer failed, the adversary prevailed ; and the moment in 
which prayer was revived, was the moment in which Is- 
rael was triumphant. Always a praying church is a tri- 
umphant church. Behold, also, the recognised connection 
between the twofold agency. So to have trusted in Di- 
vine agency, as not to have used human agency, would 
have been to abuse it ; and so to have used human agency, 
as not to have relied wholly on Divine power, would have 
been to use it in vain. 

Apart from this select operation within the church, 
there is the general and universal influence of the Spirit. 
The Spirit of the Lord is not straitened; he operates where 
he will, and on whom he will. All life is from him, and is 
regulated by him — the physical and the spiritual, the sen- 
tient and the rational. All worlds are at his control — 
above, below — visible and invisible ; he ruleth in the ar- 
mies of heaven and amongst the inhabitants of the earth. 
He employs the inferior orders of being to subserve the 
superior ; and all to perfect the body of Christ. For this, 
stars revolve in their courses ; seasons come and go ; na- 

13* 



282 ITS ADVANCEMENT 

tions rise and fall ; and Change and Time and Death fulfil 
their commissions. He maketh the wrath of man to praise 
him ; and he turneth the hearts of the children of men, 
even as water is turned. There is nothing beyond his 
reach, nothing above his power. His influence pervading 
the church, should make her to revive as the corn, to grow 
as the vine, and to emit fragrance like Lebanon ; and his 
influence pervading the world, should convert the waste 
howling wilderness into a field and a garden which the 
Lord had blessed. 

It might seem superfluous to remark of an agency 
which resolves itself into Divine influence, that it is suflft- 
cient for the work to be executed. It may be of more im- 
portance to observe, that it is, in its utmost power, neces- 
sary. It is a remarkable circumstance, and one of the 
many proofs of its divinity, that the religion of Christ pro- 
ceeds on the principle of the entire renovation of our fallen 
nature. No false religion has ever ventured to occupy this 
ground ; and it would of necessity be fatal to any that was 
not sustained by that Divine influence to which it appealed. 
It were possible and plausible, under the name of religion, 
to dispose man to overcome one portion of his nature by 
another portion ; but it were manifestly absurd for any re- 
ligion to demand nothing less than his entire regeneration, 
except it came from heaven. It follows that a religion 
which stands on these high pretensions is required to put 
forth the fulness of this power, not occasionally, but always. 
It cannot advance a step without it. The Divine energy is 
indispensable, if a single mind is to be renewed and saved ; 
and the influence which is necessary for one is available 
^vith equal facility for a million. 

If it is proper to place this emphasis on Divine influence, 
it is yet material that we should not sever it from human 



IN THE WORLD. 283 

agency. The one, as compared with the other, it is un- 
questionably insignificant in itself; nevertheless, by a wise 
and gracious economy, it is made to stand in inseparable 
connection with the displays of Divine power. It might 
have been dispensed with wholly, but it is made indispen- 
sable ; so that whether the Holy Spirit is destroying the 
old and consolidated forms of despotism and idolatry in the 
world, or whether he is moulding the church to a more ex- 
act expression of himself, he will still operate through hu- 
man agency. As the end is elevated, he demands a pro- 
portionate elevation in the temper of the instrumentality ; 
and on this single law of co-operation, the church can only 
be regarded, as a fit instrument for the conversion of the 
world, as she stands in close fellowship with the wisdom, 
grace, and majesty of his purposes. 

The great practical question arises here. Is the church 
in this position ? Is she a fit and prepared agent for his 
service ? by humility, by faith, by holy desire waiting as a 
mere vehicle to receive him, and to obey his plastic hand 
at his pleasure ? Certainly not. And do we not find here 
the cause of all our weakness, perplexity, and disappoint- 
ment ? Instead of soliciting with an earnest and yearning 
heart the descent of the Holy Spirit, we have grieved and 
oflfended him ! By our disunion he is grieved ; by our for- 
mality he is grieved ; by our worldliness he is grieved ; 
and by our hypocrisy he is grieved. A thousand times we 
have professed that we were his, and a thousand times we 
have resumed what we had given. The Spirit of God is 
not with the church ; and the church does not mourn his 
absence, or repent of the sins which have occasioned it. 
The Spirit is ready to be gracious ; all things are ready ; 
and the world is open before us ; but the church is not 
ready. Her iniquities have separated between her and her 



284 ITS ADVANCEMENT 

God ; and separate and alone, she is not so much an unfit 
instrument, as she is a guilty impediment, to the accession 
of the heavenly kingdom ! 

The one thing, then, wanted for the salvation of the 
world is, the preparation of the church. She must awake 
to a sense of her position and her responsibility. She must 
appreciate the work to be accomplished, and the part 
which she is to bear in it. She must sympathize with the 
will of the Saviour, and burn with desire to see it fulfilled 
on earth as in heaven. 

We must address ourselves to the service with the bit- 
ter tears of repentance, and the renunciation of accustomed 
sins. Worldly patronage and worldly conformity ; lifeless 
formalities and corrupt superstitions; selfish indifference 
and angry dissensions ; must be the subjects of inward, 
public, and universal lamentation : and all the redeemed 
must be resolved to come into a state of visible union, and 
fraternal fellowship and co-operation ; and must yield them- 
selves to God, that he may graciously mould them to this 
issue by the Spirit of love. 

There must be the unreserved and cordial surrender of 
ourselves, and of all that we possess, to the proposed end. 
The work is great — inconceivably great — and it demands 
all that we can offer. Our talents, time, life, and person 
must all be devoted ; it must live through all our occupa- 
tions, and breathe through all our desires ! 

As all of individual life must be given, so all of the 
whole church is to be presented. The act of consecration 
is to be as extensive as the act of redemption. None — 
not the least — is to be exempted from the duty, or deprived 
of the privilege. Youth is to come with ils enthusiasm, 
and maturity with its sagacity. Babes and sucklings are 
to find their hosannas, and the hoary head is to find its 



IN THE WORLD. 285 

crown of glory, in this service. The poor is to present his 
mite, and the rich to pour forth their treasures. The 
learned must yield their talent ; the noble their distinctions; 
and kings their authority. On every volume, on every ship, 
on every sanctuary, and on every habitation, and on every 
heart of the redeemed, must be the one living inscription, 
" Holiness to the Lord !" And the whole church, as the 
sacramental host of God's elect, must arise in her strength 
and beauty, placing her feet on the weapons of earthly 
warfare, and lifting her hands to heaven ; and the one cry 
must go up like the sound of many waters, and reverbera- 
ting on every shore, The world for Christ — the world for 
Christ! 

Church of the living God, awake, awake ! Is not 
the time actually come, which we were anticipating 1 
"When wilt thou awake, if not now 1 Is it not enough, that 
thou hast slumbered long already, while thy Saviour has 
been waiting for thee, and millions have perished without 
thine aid ? Is it not enough, that by negligence, strife, 
and carnal indulgence, thou hast been long the scorn, and 
not the terror, of thine adversaries ? Is it not enough, 
that thou hast wandered long, miserable and disconsolate, 
in the homeless wilderness ? Lift up thine eyes ! The 
land of rest, and peace, and promise is before thee ! Provi* 
dence calls thee ; occasion waits on thee ; the wide world 
solicits thee! Old dynasties and old idolatries, which 
bathed their heads in ht* aven, are mouldering at thy feet ; 
and all things invite thee to universal empire and supernal 
glory ! 

O Spirit of the living God ! wait not for a dilatory 
Church ; but graciously now prepare her for supplemen- 
tary and consummate grace. Awaken her to a conception 
of thy mind and sympathy with thy designs. Give her the 



286 ITS ADVANCEMENT IN THE WORLD. 

heart of penitential love and perfect devotedness. Heal 
all her strifes by the waters of the sanctuary, and pervade 
all her members as one life — all-seeing, all-mighty, and 
all-glorious. Show her her vocation, and gird her for its 
accomplishment. Give the mighty heart and perfect faith, 
to which conflict is easy, and victory certain. And when 
the last victory is won, and the last enemy conquered, and 
the world presented to the Saviour, let no hand be seen, no 
mercy adored — ^but Thine ! 



LECTURE X 



THE CERTAINTY AND GLORY OF 



THE CONSUMMATION. 



LECTURE X. 



CERTAINTY AND GLORY OP THE 
CONSUMMATION. 



" The glory of the Lord shall he revealed, and all flesh shall 
see it together.'' 

Respect the End, is an excellent maxim of conduct. 
It is fatal to every worldly pursuit as ultimate in the life of 
man. It is propitious in the highest degree to every claim 
of religion. The early steps of the Christian may be taken 
in doubt, in darkness, and in trembling ; but he shall gather 
strength as he advances, and his end shall be peace. " He 
that goeth forth weeping, bearing precious seed, shall 
doubtless come again rejoicing, bringing his sheaves with 
him." 

Throughout these exercises we have dwelt on the pre- 
valence of true religion. We have contemplated its ad- 
vancement in the individual, in the family, in the church, 
and in the world. At every step we have felt increasingly 
that its progress and prevalence amongst men w^as most 
desirable — was, indeed, the one thing needful. And could 
we have expatiated on the great theme with more distinct- 
ness and enlargement, it would only have been .to receive a 
more intense conviction of its unutterable importance. 

Still, to a thoughtful mind, and in proportion to the good 
promised, the question may arise, Can these things be ? 
Can such a dark and sinful world, as ours has long been, 
be so restored and so blessed 1 Have "we any security of 



290 CERTAINTY AND GLORY 

the fact? or must we at most surround it with our fondest 
hopes, rather than rest on it a firm and unalterable confi- 
dence ? 

Our reply is, that these things can be — that they shall 
he — and that they shall be revealed to the universe in con- 
summate glory. This will suggest to us the course of this 
meditation. Let us desire, that it may be prayerful and 
elevated, that it may be in keeping with the subject to be 
illustrated. 



We are to regard the certainty of this anticipated con- 
summation. 

It will not agree with our design to bring together all 
the particulars which bear on this point, and which, by an 
accumulating process, might establish our position. We 
shall content ourselves with tw^o or three observations. 

1. First of all, the evidence may spring from the nature 
of religion. It is the truth, and as such is the direct oppo- 
site of error. Error is various, heterogeneous, divided 
against itself; and though, in our world, it lives long and 
dies hard, it cannot stand. It has no unity, no concord, 
but carries in itself the principle of self-destruction. It is 
indebted for a temporary and precarious existence to our 
depraved nature. It is the darkness of the human mind, 
and the perversity of the human will, which allows it to im- 
pose on our judgment, and hold the place of truth. After 
all its plausibilities and subtleties, its convictions do not 
satisfy the claims of the understanding, nor its promises 
the aspirations of the heart, j 



OF THE CONSUMMATION. 291 

But the truth is one, homogeneous, simple, and indes- 
tructible. It is a pure and incorruptible seed, and it bears 
fruit unto immortal life. Besides this the truth is exactly 
suited to the necessities of man. It speaks of God, — and 
man needs his Creator. It speaks of the apostasy, — and 
man has the consciousness of sin. It speaks of one atone- 
ment for sin, — and man needs an equivalent for sin, both 
before God and his conscience. It speaks of redemption, 
— and man groans under the burden of iniquity and death. 
It speaks of immortaUty, — and man yearns after a life to 
come. 

Still we are merely pleading for the principle of adap- 
tation. The truth is of immortal and unchangeable excel- 
lence, it is therefore prepared in its own nature to recover 
man to a perfect and enduring felicity. It might so have 
been, that this dark world should never be enlightened by 
its rays, nor fallen man blessed by its influence. But if 
man is to be restored from his state of ruin, and if he is to 
be preserved in that redeemed condition, then the truth, and 
the truth alone, is the prepared instrument for the work. 
It has in itself an adaptation to the end. 

An illustration may be derived from ourselves. We are 
composed of body and spirit. The body is corruptible ; it 
labors to live ; it has no fitness for immortality. It must 
die to live ; and must be not only changed, but so changed, 
as of a corruptible, to become a spiritual body. But the 
spirit in man is life. It might be the pleasure of its Maker 
that it should die ; but then violence must be done to its 
nature. Its Hfe is immortal, and it is made to find its im- 
mortal happiness in the bosom of its Creator. 

So is the truth, unlike to error, immortal ; and it is pre- 
pared, in its very nature, to confer on the children of men 
an abiding and eternal blessedness. 



292 CERTAINTY AND GLORY 

2. The advanced position of religion may encourage us 
to look to the expected issue with certainty. Religion not 
only exists in the world, it advances. It has advanced, it 
is advancing ; and the conclusion is, that it shall advance 
unto the perfect day. 

It is no objection, that this advance is slow. Infidelity 
has hastened to employ this repeatedly as an objection ; 
but he that believeth shall not make haste. It is slow to 
our impatience ; slow to our brief life — to our limited sur- 
vey. We measure it by ourselves, and not by God, whose 
work it is. To Him, a thousand years are as one day ; to 
us, one day is as a thousand years. God is eternal, and he 
can afford to wait. 

All the works of God are progressive : it was to be 
expected that the redemption should be so. All his works 
are slow in their progress to maturity in proportion to their 
magnitude and importance ; it was therefore to be expect- 
ed that the greatest — our redemption — should be slow in 
its development. The promise of Messiah was given im- 
mediately on the fall ; and our first parents looked for its 
accomplishment in their own seed ; but ages on ages were 
to roll away before Messiah appeared. Messiah, on his 
ascension, was foretold to come again in spiritual glory for 
the world's renovation. Instantly weak and dying men 
exclaim. Where is the promise of His coming ? Yet, 
though they see it not, does He come in calm and solemn 
majesty according to his word. Be silent before Him — for 
He Cometh. 

It is no objection that the advance of religion has often 
been sensibly checked. Here, again, we must have recourse 
to analogy. It was to be expected, that similar principles 
should be found operating in the various w^orks of God. 
But in all other of his works we meet with antagonist prin- 



OP THE CONSUMMATION. 293 

ciples, so that final good is wrought out by previous and 
continued conflict. Had religion been an exception, the 
exception might have created the doubt. In fact, the 
doubt does exist against every false religion. It could not 
wait ; could not patiently endure the fiery trial ; but has 
cast itself for protection on constraint and the sword. 

Again, while we are to look for the establishment of 
true rehgion through an exercise of the Divine power, we 
are not to expect that such power, though triumphant, 
should be irresistible. This would be to forget the nature 
of man ; to treat him as a machine ; and to leave him not 
only without choice, but without guilt — without responsibi- 
lity. Man shall be free to act, and yet brought to obey ; 
the purpose of God shall stand, and yet those who promote 
it be held accountable ; there shall be place for the opera- 
tion of motive as well as power ; and thus the wisdom of 
God shall be illustrated equally wdth his might ; and this 
greater work of his hand shall work in harmony with those 
which are subordinate. In nature, the earth has her sea- 
sons, and the very stars their perturbations ; in providence, 
one event is made to wait on another, and ages are taken 
to realize it ; and in religion, it was to be expected that we 
should witness at once, and on the same field, the resist- 
ance of depravity, and the fluctuating but final triumphs of 
Divine grace. 

Religion, then, notwithstanding all the resistance with 
which she has met, exists — that is something. It has been 
in the world since the fall. It has stood alone in the world, 
with nothing like itself, amidst the most hostile and malig- 
nant influences. It has appeared in various forms, and 
under different circumstances ; but always it has deen de- 
tected, proscribed, condemned. Wealth, learning, and 
power, have conspired for its destruction. At a thousand 



294 CERTAINTY AND GLORY 

altars the oath of blood has been taken ,* a thousand fires 
have been kindled to consume it ; and a thousand nations 
have arisen to pursue it to the death. But it lives ! like the 
bush in the flame, unconsumed. And is it too much to say 
that it shall live for ever ? 

Rehgion not ony lives ; it has advanced in power and 
glory. It was revealed in weakness, but increased like the 
light of day. It has been submitted to every form of trial ; 
and it has come forth with the lustre of gold, seven times 
purified. It was confined to a people ; and when they 
perished for their sins, it survived, and spread itself through 
the world. Egypt and Babylon, Greece and Rome, resist- 
ed it unto blood ; and it left its name recorded on their 
ruins, and passed on to the habitable parts of the 'earth. 
Two hundred millions of people now acknowledge its 
authority, and do it willing homage. Chiefly it has 
established its throne, and bestowed its blessings, on Britain 
and America ; and these, by liberty, commerce, and eleva- 
ted character, control the whole world. Her blessed pro- 
clamation of peace and life to men is now uttered through 
a hundred languages, and to all nations ; and she is now 
advancing to her final conflicts, and her final triumphs. Be- 
hind her rests the bowSof promise, on the retiring darkness ; 
and before her lie the streaming lights of opening and in- 
conceivable glory ! 

And shall we despair of religion now ? When her 
warfare is well nigh accomplished, her enemies all con- 
founded, her rivals all perished; and she herself has be- 
come the single hope of the world ! When commerce is 
hers, wealth is hers, science is hers, and the predominant 
kingdoms of the earth are hers ! When her heralds are in 
all lands, and her voice heard through every tongue ; and the 
most distant and adverse nations are coming to the bright- 



OF THE CONSUMMATION. 295 

ness of her rising ! Shall we despair now ? doubt now ? 
Oh ! doubt that light is light, that truth is truth, that man 
is man ; but doubt not that religion shall triumph on earth 
— that wherever Satan has found a slave, Christ shall find 
a trophy ! 

3. The certainty of the event rests on. the will of God. 
We have no means of knowing the will of God, but by 
its annunciation. We are, therefore, to seek for it in the 
sacred volume. We have, however, no necessity to quote 
formally and extensively in proof of this subject ; if any 
thing is plain and indisputable, this is it. Revelation is 
evidently given to the world that its light and blessedness 
may prevail, till the knowledge of the Lord shall cover the 
earth, as the waters cover the great abyss. It is not re- 
quired to show that this will exists, but rather to mark the 
emphasis which is given to it. 

It is the supreme purpose of the Divine mind. All 
things were made for it ; all things are preserved for it ; 
and all things work 'together to secure it. It is his plea- 
sure — his delight — that which he will accomplish at any 
sacrifice. The measure with which he abhors sin and 
death, is the measure of his delight in restored righteous- 
ness unto eternal life. 

God is most solemnly pledged to it. His purpose were 
enough for security, for his purpose must stand, and he will 
do all his pleasure. But the great purpose has been 
clothed with promises ; the promises have taken the form 
of solemn covenant ; the covenant has been confirmed 
by two immutable things, the oath of God, and the blood 
of sacrifice. " As surely as I live, saith the Lord, all 
the earth shall be .filled with my glory." — "The Lord 
hath sworn, and will not repent, Thou art a priest for 



296 CERTAINTY AND GLORY 

ever, after the order of Melchisedec." — " He must reign, 
till all things are put under his feet." Here, then, we 
have the promise, the covenant, the oath, and the blood ; 
each immutable, yet all united, not to make that which is 
sure more sure, but to bring to us the deeper sense of 
assurance, that the heirs of the promise might have strong 
consolation. 

This purpose has the force of a passion. We must be 
forgiven, if on this subject we prefer the language of Scrip- 
ture to that of philosophy. By passion, w^e refer to that 
energy — that fixed and concentrated energy — which springs 
from the common interest of all the Divine perfections. 
" The zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this." The 
evil to be removed excites the deepest hatred ; and the 
good to be secured is contemplated with the most intense 
delight. The zeal which is enkindled is nourished by every 
perfection in God ; — his holiness, for he abhors sin ; his 
mercy, for he loves the sinner; his truth, for his mouth hath 
spoken it ; his justice, for he has received an equivalent ; 
and his Son claims the inheritance he hath purchased. 
Every day God is grieved and offended by the crimes and 
miseries of a rebellious world ; and every day every per- 
fection of his nature is working to the times of " the resti- 
tution of all things." 

And is it so ? Is the advancement and establishment 
of the kingdom of heaven on earth the purpose, the ruling 
purpose of God 1 Is it made sure to us by the most solemn 
and ratified engagements 1 Does the world exist for it, 
Providence operate for it, and all the Divine perfections 
plead for it ? Have the Father — the Son — the Spirit — an 
equal and infinite interest in it ? and are they concurring to 
work for its accomplishment ? Then what can equal it in 
certainty ? The hills shall pass away, the mountains be re- 



OF THE CONSUMMATION. 297 

moved ; the stars fall, like untimely figs, from their orbits; 
but the truth, the faithfulness, the loving-kindness of Jeho- 
van, shall not — cannot — fail ! 

Can any thing less than inspiration take possession 
of the church ? She is pledged to the highest of all 
services, with the strongest of all assurances. In the light 
of promise, she sees the end from the beginning ; a cloud 
of witnesses on earth, and in heaven, testify to the blessed 
consummation. With what strength of confidence should 
she go forth to possess the nations ! with what deep and 
holy enthusiasm should she raise the one universal cry, " It 
is the will of God !— it is the will of God !" 



11. 



Secure of (he event, let us now contemplate the glory 
of this consummation. One instantly feels that the chief 
difficulty of the subject is, that it so greatly transcends our 
conception. Yet, if we may not comprehend it, we may 
possibly, by the light of Scripture, and the aid of prayer, 
come to apprehend it with more distinctness and power. 

1. Glory is that lustre which arises from excellence 
It is material, as in the sun and the stars ; one star differeth 
from another in glor}'' — but all are glorious. Or it is spir- 
itual, as in man, when he was created in the Divine image ; 
and as in God, who is glorious in holiness. The glory 
which is spiritual greatly excels that w^hich is material and 
physical. It is of this glory — superior in kind to all olher-^ 
that we have to speak. 

Man — the soul of man — is the subject of this glory. 
It elevates and glorifies the body, but it is through the 
80ul. Mind is itself the most glorious work of God. One 

14 



298 CERTAINTY AND GLORY 

soul is of higher value than a material universe. It is made 
after the likeness of God ; it is capable of his fellowship ; 
it is born to immortality. It has within itself the living 
fountains of beauty and sublimity ; and it makes half the 
glory it beholds. What power of thought ; what reach of 
imagination ; what depth of affection ; what a w^orld of 
agony, or of glory, dwell in the spirit of man ! 

It is on this living soul that religion operates to glorify 
it. It finds man lapsed into a state of unutterable misery 
and sin ; it commences and maintains a sanctifying process 
until what was sanctification issues in glorification. It is 
knowledge in the understanding, liberty in the will, purity 
in the affections, harmony to the whole soul. It recovers 
him from this dark and woful life to the light of heaven ; 
the bosom of God ; the society of the saints ; the forfeited 
inheritance of eternity. All his Father's designs of love 
are accomplished in him ; he dwells in his favor, is renew- 
ed in his own likeness, and is secured against sorrow, crime, 
and care, by the possession of a happiness exquisite, wave- 
less, eternal. Oh ! can it be that that exalted spirit, radi- 
ant wdth light and bliss — an angel amongst angels — is the 
very being that once tenanted a body, dwelt on earth, lived 
in sorrow^ and died in agony ? And if so — was there ever 
transformation more complete, more glorious! 

2. In this consummation, there will be the glory of 
numbers. Magnitude is often a great property of the glo- 
rious. The light which flames in the sun, and that which 
glimmers in the taper, are precisely the same; we always 
speak of the one as glorious ; of the other never. In the 
instance before us, nothing can exceed it in kind ; yet if the 
same thing were done on a larger scale, it would evidently 
be furnished with an additional attribute of glory. Sup- 
pose, that what was done for you, w^ere done for your 



OF THE CONSUMMATION. 299 

family ; that what was done for your family, were done for 
a people ; that what was done for a people, were done for 
the world ; would not this be a circumstance of excelling 
glory ? 

There is sublimity in numbers. This very assembly is 
impressive ; increase it tenfold, and what would it be ? If 
you could look on an assembled nation — if on a congrega- 
ted world — what would be your emotion 1 But this is the 
very scale on which this glory is to be displayed. What 
is to be done for you, is to be effected for myriads, millions 
numbers innumerable ; the world is to be the great theatre 
of its exhibition. All flesh are to see it, and not in suc- 
cession, but together ; yea, earth and heaven shall be ahke 
accessory to the final glories of the gospel in the salvation 
of men. 

Scripture, as you know, is exuberant in its joyful refer- 
ence to this period. The causes of misery and crime are 
to be dried up; and nothing is to hurt or destroy. The arts 
and implements of w-ariare to be deemed accursed ; and man 
is to be at peace with himself, at peace with his fellow- 
man. The physical and national distinctions in society are 
to be broken down ; and the intercommunion of the human 
family is to be complete — there shall be " no sea there." 
The voice of joy and praise shall be in the habitations of 
the righteous — and all shall then be righteous. Light, life 
and bliss, hke a river flowing from the throne of Deity, shall 
refresh the Divine inheritance ; and God himself shall be 
the glory of his redeemed people. This is the hope of 
man — the Sabbath of the world. A period which all po- 
etry fails to describe ; which exhausts all prayer, and per- 
fects all praise ! 

3. There is the glory of contrast. Not unfrequently an 



300 CERTAINTY AND GLORY 

object depends on this circumstance for its interest and 
grandeur. Where would be the beauty of the rainbow if 
painted on a bright and cloudless sky? and where the sub- 
limity of the mountain if it could not be contrasted with 
something less than itself? 

Ours was a fair and beautiful world as it came fresh from 
the hands of its Maker, and revolved in his favor. But how 
soon, and how fatally was it changed ! Man corrupted his 
way, and fell from his God. Still, as he multiplied, mur- 
der, cunning, and all wickedness prevailed. One world was 
destroyed by fire, and another by flood ; but neither fire nor 
water could eradicate the sin of man from the earth. Man 
perished, but his iniquities survived. To what crime — and 
what wo — and what weeping — and what gnashing of 
teeth has our fallen world been witness ! Mad in folly and 
in anguish, she has forsaken her Creator, the guide of her 
youth ; and as she rolls beneath his indignant frown, ever 
and anon she is casting from her bosom millions of rebel- 
lious men from a wretched life into unfathomable perdition. 

Yet is this world to be restored and regenerated. Its 
darkness is to be irradiated by the Sun of Righteousness. 
Where sin hath so awfully abounded, grace is much more 
to abound. Bondage is to give place to liberty, death to 
life, and a complicated and prevailing misery is to find its 
remedy in a happiness exquisite and supernal. This ruined 
and rebellious world is to be redeemed, reconciled, pardon- 
ed ; and is to rest in the favor, and to be suffused with the 
glory of its Redeemer. 

This restojative process is now going forward ; and as 
it advances, what contrasts awaken our attention and fix 
our astonishment ! Now the thick darkness, and now the 
breaking light of day. Now the cry of joy, and now the 
yell of despair. Here the voice of prayer, and there of 



OF THE COxNSUMMATlON. 301 

blasphemy^ Here the sanctuary of the saints ; there the 
orgies of revelry and mad lust. Here a heaven of love; 
there a den of furies. Oh, does heaven or hell contain 
either good or evil, which finds not its type on earth ? 

And as this Avonderful process seeks its close in the final 
judgment — ah, what hope, what fear — what grace, what 
guilt — what terror, what triumph — what consummated 
misery, what consummated glory ! Life there, and death 
there — the righteous there, and the wicked there — angels 
from opening heaven, and fiends from the lowest deep. 
Hell from beneath disemboguing its liquid and lurid fires ; 
and the high throne of Deity shedding its splendors above, 
around, below, till they glow on the confines of outermost 
darkness. Oh, the agony, the bliss — the shame, the honor, 
the revelations and the glory of that day ! 

4. There is the ^lory of conquest. We have heard, it 
must be confessed, enough of conquest in its ordinrry con- 
nections. The history of our world is a history of war and 
of blood ', and the man w^ho has been most successful in 
the destruction of his race, has become a hero and a divinity 
amongst his fellow-men. But we have now to refer to a 
conflict of a different character, and with different results 
to any which the annals of the w^orld record. 

The revolt of earth, of which we have spoken, had its 
origin in the treason of heaven. Satan, the first of the 
ways of God, renounced his allegiance and took possession 
of our world as his strong hold. Too soon he beguiled and 
seduced man to his purposes, and hastened to fulfil them 
almost without molestation. Deep he laid the foundations 
of his empire in the corruptions of human nature, and gave 
the guises of truth to error, of virtue tovice, and of great- 
ness to vanity. People after people walked in his fear, and 



302 CEKTAINTY AND GLORY 

temple after temple arose for his worship, till he became 
the acknowledged " god of this world." 

Was, then, this paradise of the universe to be lost or 
recovered ? From the first, there had gone forth a saying, 
that the seed of the woman should bruise the head of the 
serpent — that as man had been employed to affront God, so 
man should be the instrument of his glory. Some there 
were who clung to this traditional prophecy, and looked for 
the coming of some Just and Holy One to save them ; but 
they were few and feeble, and not unfrequently lost faith in 
their own expectations, and gave themselves to the demon- 
worship. At length, a strange personage appeared on earth? 
fulfilling an extraordinary commission with extraordinary 
powers. Men said, He hath a devil ; but devils said. It is 
the Son of God ; and under this conviction they conspired 
for his destruction. He lived in sorrow, and died in agony 
and ignominy ; and hell exulted in the triumph. 

But the powers shown in the life of the Crucified One 
strangely survived him. Multitudes insisted that he who 
was slain lived again — that he had risen in glory — that he 
was the antagonist of the prince of darkness — and that all 
men should renounce their bondage, and acknowledge him 
as their rightful sovereign. Onward the message went like 
a swelling tide, with a grace that made it vital in the 
spirits of men, and against which the gates of hell could 
not prevail. Satan now tasks himself to his utmost ; but 
relying on his subtlety rather than his might, he worked 
with " all deceivableness," till he not only corrupted the 
men who professed this faith in Messiah, but the very faith 
which animated and united them. 

Still the faith revived ; and wherever cordially admit- 
ted, it gave a new spirit to men. For it saints pleaded and 
martyrs bled ; and before it many an altar and many a 



OF THE CONSUMMATION. 303 

temple fell. Age after age the strife continued with vary- 
ing advantage ; the religion of light still making gradual 
advances on the empire of darkness. At last, both parties 
became conscious that the final conflict was at hand ; and 
each prepared itself for the terrible occasion. All the re- 
sources of men and of demons were called into requisition ; 
the saints trusting in their acknowledged Leader, and Satan 
casting his last proud defiance to the skies. Oh, what a 
conflict, of which earth is to be the prize, and in which 
heaven and hell are to be the combatants ! 

But it is enough. Satan is smitten by an unseen hand. 
The Son of God, in the glorified humanity, appears. His 
adversary is cast out to suffer, as only archangels can suf- 
fer. He claims the earth as his own mediatorial inheri- 
tance. His saints who have waited for Him, radiant with 
his glory, triumph in the God of their salvation ; and one 
great acclaim rings through earth and sky. Hallelujah, 
hallelujah — for the kingdoms of this world are become the 
kingdoms of our God and of his Christ, and He shall reign 
for ever ! 

5. Then there is the glory of peace — of peace after 
war. It is little prized on earth ; but its glories shall be 
celebrated in heaven. And w^hat peace shall then accrue 
to man and to the world ! Trust which excludes fear, joy 
which excludes grief, and quiet which excludes care. Faith 
shall have found its object, hope its fruition, and love her 
dwelling-place. That little world in man, perturbed and 
convulsed with stormy passions, through every period of 
life, shall rest in complete and everlasting satisfaction. 

The peace of one shall be the peace of all. In social 
hfe no alarm, no wrong, no strife, no disease, no suff*ering, 
no death. No conflict of opinion, of interest, or of aflfec- 



304 CERTAINTY AND GLORY 

tion ; but order, contentment, and peaceful love shall pre- 
vail. No change of circumstances or time shall interrupt 
the harmony, or threaten the repose. No foe shall ever 
enter, and no friend shall ever depart. Life shall be one 
happy day, cloudless, serene, and abiding. 

Peace shall then reign — and what peace ? The peace 
which the Saviour dying bequeathed, and living maintains : 
" The peace of God which passeth all understanding." 
Peace within, without, above, around. Every aspect 
peace ; every voice peace ; the very air peace ; a world 
of peace ; deep, boundless, unbroken, like the ocean when 
it reposes beneath the peaceful majesty of the complacent 
heavens. 

9. Then there is the glory, the manifested glory of 
God. This is an essential attribute of the period. It is 
evident, that all glory centres in God ; and that whatever 
excellence is seen in the creature, is but a reflection of his 
own. Another position equally plain is, that all creatures 
are excellent and glorious in proportion as they have a ca- 
pacity to reflect the Divine glory. It is this that makes 
providence more glorious than nature, and redemption than 
both. All this glory shall be then displayed, and all flesh 
shall see it together. The arcana of creation shall be re- 
vealed ; and man shall admire in ecstasy the wonderful 
works of God. Providence shall unfold her mysteries ; all 
clouds and darkness shall be dispersed from before the 
throne ; and all shall see that righteousness, mercy and 
truth are its immutable foundations. Redemption shall 
then be disclosed ; and all that the eye had not seen, all 
that the ear had not heard, all that the heart of man had 
labored to conceive and could not, shall then be exhibited 
in all its glory. 



OF THE CONSUMMATION. 305 

This last and greatest work of the Almighty hand shall, 
in its consummation, especially reveal and glorify all the 
Divine perfections. We cannot assert this of other works 
of Deity. Nature reveals some of his perfections ; but not 
all. It speaks of power and wisdom, but not of mercy and 
grace to fallen men. Providence displays the majesty of 
God and his goodness to all his dependent creatures ; but 
it utters no assurance of love to the sinful, and pardon to 
the guilty. Everywhere, and in every thing, God is seen ; 
but nowhere is he completely revealed except in the 
gospel. When the stupendous scheme of his redemption 
shall be 'perfected, then shall all' the attributes of the God- 
head be revealed in all their harmony. Wisdom and power, 
mercy and truth, holiness and grace, majesty and conde- 
scension, righteousness and love, shall then have finished 
their work, and shall rest in their glory. 

Not only shall every perfection be revealed in that day, 
but all will be glorified to the idtennost. Our redemption 
is frequently spoken of as the single work of God, because 
it is his chief work, the work on which he suspends his 
name and his honor. Of other works of his hand, great 
and wonderful as they are, he says they shall not be re- 
membered or referred to, because of the excelling glory of 
this dispensation of his grace. The very perfections which 
are most revealed by creation and government, are still dis- 
played with far less lustre than in our redemption. Hence 
a marked difiference is observed in the very style of speech 
in the two instances. In nature it is " power ;" in redemp- 
tion it is " the exceeding greatness of power ;" — in nature 
it is " wisdom ;" but in redemption it is " manifold wis- 
dom ;" — in nature it is " goodness ;" but in redemption it 
is " the riches and tenderness of mercy," " the exceeding 
riches of his grace," — it is " the height, the depth, the 



306 CERTAINTY AND GLORY 

breadth, the length, of the love of God which passeth 
knowledge." Every perfection is revealed to the utmost, 
God has taken occasion of the extremity of man, and the 
treason of hell, to make himself known to his creatures, fal- 
len and innocent. God is seen as He was never seen. 
Even now, angels descend to earth to behold more of God 
than heaven itself displays; and, when the one great pur- 
pose of mercy shall be consummated, — the whole work 
finished, — every perfection fully glorified, — the Father glori- 
fied, the Son glorified, the Spirit glorified, — the universe shall 
receive a new sentiment of God, and be silent before him ! 

7. Finally, there is the glory of duration. " Ah !" said 
a great captain, when elated by the splendors and accla- 
mations of a triumph which Rome had awarded to him, 
" Ah ! that it would continue !" But it did not continue. 
It passed away as the pageant of an hour. It is the reproach 
of all earthly bliss that it cannot continue. Man dies, — 
thrones moulder, — nations perish. Yea, this earth, and 
these heavens, and the stars and sun which glorify them, 
shall fade and perish like a garment. 

There is but one thing with which w^e are conversant 
that is an exception, and this is religion. " The word of 
the Lord," and of our salvation, " endureth for ever." It 
shall live when all else expires. It shall not only survive 
the ruins of the world and nature; then shall be the period 
in which it shall culminate in perfect glory. Religion is 
not of earth, but from heaven. It is here as a visitant from 
eternity, winning the children of men to the immortality to 
which it leads. Here it is effecting a work of mercy amidst 
obscurations and uncongenial influences ; it is reserving 
and accumulating its glories for the great day of revelation. 
Earth is all too narrow, the world is all too gross, and time 



OF THE CONSUMMATION. 307 

is all too brief, for their matured and perfect manifestation ; 
they demand an infinite field and an eternal day. This 
earih on which we dwell, these heavens by which we are 
surrounded, having answered their purpose, are to be dis- 
solved as unw^orthy of the opening occasion ; and there are 
to be *' a new earth and new^ heavens," which shall endure 
for ever. This is the home of religion. Here she is to 
dwell, displaying all her excellence, and dispensing all her 
favors. Time, change, and death for ever excluded ; her 
subjects eternal, herself eternal; her rdwelhng, not made 
with hands, eternal in the heavens. An eternity of bliss is 
bliss ; an "eternity of glory is excelling glory ! 

If an effort were made to bring together these several 
attributes of glory in one conception, w^e should have an 
improved apprehension of a subject which by its own gran- 
deur, is incomprehensible. Religion visited our w^orld with 
the purpose of recovering man from misery, guilt and thral- 
dom. Hell opposed this act of grace ; and heaven suc- 
cored it. The eyes of the universe w^ere thus turned to our 
earth, and archangels have contended on this field for the 
life of man. For a thousand ages the conflict was sustain- 
ed w^ith fluctuating success; till at length the crisis came,' 
and in one final contest religion prevailed, and rose in tri- 
umph over all her foes. 

Ah ! the glories of that day ! A day in which man is 
presented in the restored and perfected likeness of his Re- 
deemer ; — a day in which the life and bliss which were in- 
dividual, are multiplied myriads of millions of the human 
family, and all assembled in one common presence ; — a 
day in which Satan, with his hosts, is adjudged, cast down, 
and tormented ; — a day in which nature and providence, 
with all their wonders, shall give place to the higher scheme 
of redemption, to which they have been the platform and 



308 CERTAINTY AND GLORY 

auxiliary ; — a day in which the Divine perfections shall be 
revealed in such power as shall shed renewed effulgence 
through the universe, and fill angels and men with deeper 
love, and more profound worship ; — a day in which the 
whole mind of God and of Christ shall be perfected ; and 
the peace of heaven, the torment of hell, proclaimed to be 
eternal. Then pain, crime, and death shall die; and then 
shall begin the life of men, the rest of God, the jubilee of 
the universe. Oh ! the glory of that day — the day for 
which all other days were made ! 

These stupendous events are to be realized, and realiz- 
ed quicldy. We are already walking in the shadows 
which they have cast before them. The whole framework 
of nations is heaving with final change. The hand of Pro- 
vidence is silently removing obstacles, and preparing a way 
and a highway for the ransomed of her Lord ; and the finger 
of prophecy is indicating the night to be far spent, and the 
day to be at hand. The " man of sin" is rousing himself 
for the last conflict ; and the spirit of all evil is putting on 
portentous and aggravated forms. The church is awaking 
to great expectation, and going forth to meet her Lord ; the 
world is looking out with fear and w'onder at what is to 
happen, not knowing whether it shall be for vengeance or 
salvation; and there is a voice in the conscience of all men, 
which, from time to time, is solemnly saying, "Behold I 
come quickly !" 

My brethren, are these occurrences approaching ? Is 
" the riches of the glory of the mystery," which was hidden 
from the foundation of the world, about to be revei^led now 
in the consummation of all things ? As surely as that they 



OF THE CONSUMMATION. 309 

are to happen, shall we bear a part in them ? Must our 
eyes look on the glory and the terrors of that great day ? 
What then is comparable in moment to the question, How 
will it affect us? Shall we see it with joy, or with giief? 
Will it be to us the day of confusion, or the day of redemp- 
tion ? 

These questions may be met by another, more practical 
and more readily resolved. How does it affect us now 1 Is 
it an object of desire, or of dread ? Are we thirsting for 
the coming of the kingdom of God and of heaven ? Are 
W'e uniformly proving the sincerity and power of our de- 
sires, by laboring to this glorious issue? Little evidence 
can we have, that we are rightly affected towards this king- 
dom, except as it is found in devoted and paramount concern 
for its advancement. And, supposing that you could be par- 
taker of its honors, though you had not labored for its es- 
tablishment, what joy could be yours ? 

A general, who was committed to a fearful battle with 
an enemy of superior numbers, sent a despatch to a sub- 
ordinate officer, who commanded a considerable detachment 
at some distance, to join him without fail on the morning of 
conflict. He trifled, however, with the occasion, and did 
not arrive on the field till the hard fought battle was won. 
" There, sir," said the General, " we have fought the bat- 
tle and gained the victory without you — and now you may 
share the honors if you please !" The reproach went to 
his heart — he never lifted up his head again — but pined and 
died. 

And wall you, think you, lift up your head with joy in 
that day — that great day of the Lord — if you shall be 
conscious of having done nothing to advance its triumphs ? 
Oh, give yourself to it — w^holly to it — by perfect and perse- 



310 CERTAINTY AND GLORY OF THE CONSUMMATION. 

vering devotedness. Pray — labor — sacrifice — bleed for it 
Let your prayers be full of hope, and your labor full of joy. 
He who gives most is the richest — he who suffers most, the 
happiest. The Lord is at hand ; and, if you are faithful, 
He shall count you worthy to share his triumphs, to sit on 
his throne, and to reign in his kingdom — His glorious, 
illimitable, and everlasting kingdom ! 



THE END 



AND FOR SALE BY 

m. 1¥ . B O B B , 

BRICK CHURCH CHAPEL, CORNER OF PARK ROW AND SPRUCE 
STREET. 

New- York, 1843. 
A RESIDENCE OF EIGHT YEARS IN PERSIA, 

Among the Nestorian Christians. With Notices of the Mahatnme- 
dans. By Rev. Justin Perkins. With Maps and twenty-seven 
beautiful colored plates. One vol. 8vo. 

"The attention of the Christian public has been called of late years with 
great interest to the Nestorians of Persia, and the recent visit to this country 
by Rev. Justin Perkins and Bishop Mar Yohanon, has awakened still greater 
anxiety to know more of this people, ' the venerable remnant of a once great 
and influential Christian Church.' The theory of Dr. Grant that this people 
are the lost tribes of Israel, has attracted considerable attention, though since 
the examination of that theory by Dr. Robinson, we do not think it has very 
generally been embraced. These are obvious reasons to account for the anx- 
iety with which the work of Mr. Perkins has been looked for since his inten- 
tion to prepare a work on Persia was announced, and we are quite confident 
that the public expectation will be more than answered by the graphic interest, 
the valuable information, and unique embellishments of the volume just issued. 
. . . Mr. Perkins has made a valuable contribution to the literature and science 
of our country, as well as to missionary annals. This handsome volume 
should adorn the library of every literary institution, and of every man of in- 
telligence, and we trust it will thus be widely circulated." — N. Y. Observer. 

HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS FOR FOREIGN 

MISSIONS. 

Compiled chiefly from the published and unpublished Documents of 
the Board. By Joseph Tracy. Second edition, carefully revised 
and enlarged, 1 vol. 8vo. 

" Mr. Tracy has performed his work well, and it is one that should be found 
in the library of every intelligent citizen. It is interesting in matter and sub- 
ject, and invaluable for a reference. The volume is handsomely printed and 
illustraled with numerous plates, some of which were drawn and engraved and 
printed by natives at Missionary stations. The whole comprises a neat oc- 
tavo volume of 450 pages. The research, and clear and concise style of the 
work entitle it to great commendation." — Boston Traveller. 

PSYCHOLOGY; 

Or a View of the Human Soul ; including Anthropology. Adapted 
for the use of Colleges and Schools. By Rev. F. Ranch, D. P., 
late President of Marshall College, Pa. Second edition, revised 
and improved. 1 vol. 8vo. 

" We have devoted more time to the examination of this work than we can 
usually devote to the books submitted to our consideration for a passing no- 
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" His first great object in these lectures is to teach man to know himself. 
The second, is to give the science of man a direct bearing upon other sci- 
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The clergyman should study it. The lawyer would derive great advantage 
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Com. Adv. 



Books Published and for Sale by M. W. Dodd. 

THE GOLDEN TREASURY FOR THE CHILDREN 
OF GOD; 

Consisting of Select Texts of the Bible, with practical observations in 
prose and verse for every day in the year. By C. H. V. Bogatz- 
ky. 1 vol. 12mo. 

PUNISHMENT BY DEATH; 

Its Authority and Expediency. By Rev. George B. Cheever. 1 vol. 

12mo. 

ELIZABETH THORNTON; 

Or, the Flower and Fruit of Female Piety. By " Irenseus." 

Charlotte Elizafeetai's l^orlts. 

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Or, Chapters on Flowers. A Sequel to Floral Biography. By Char- 
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CONFORMITY. 

A Tale. By Charlotte Elizabeth. 1 vol. ISmo. Second edition. 

DANGERS AND DUTIES. 

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PASSING THOUGHTS. 

By Charlotte Elizabeth. 1 vol. 18mo. 

Just published 

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1 vol. 12mo. 

A MOTHER'S TRIBUTE TO A BELOVED DAUGHTER; 

Or, Memoir of Malvina Forman Smith. 1 vol. 12mo. 
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MEMOIR OF MRS. ELIZABETH B. DWIGHT; 

Including an account of the Plague in 1837. By Rev. H. G. O. 
Dwight, Missionary to Constantinople. With a Sketch of the 
Life of Mrs. Judith S. Grant, Missionary to Persia. 

M. W. Dodd is Agent for the sale of 
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Which are always on hand in quantities, with a large supply of 
other works suitable for Sabbath School Libraries. 

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